Financial Analyst, Sydney Casely-Hayford has challenged government to publish a statement indicating loans Ghana has taken and the projects they have been used for.
According to him, government is over borrowing and failing to show evidence of what the monies are being used for.
”If government is claiming that they have borrowed and spent money appropriately they should publish in the public and ntional newspaper a statement that shows all the monies that they have taken and all the projects they are used for…,” he said.
Responding to the Finance Minister’s address to parliament on last Tuesday on the state of the economy and winning investor confidence, Mr. Casely-Hayford said there is “nothing happening in the economy that indicates that everything is on course.”
Speaking on Citi FM’s news and current affairs programme, The Big Issue, Casely-Hayford accused government for over-borrowing for the wrong reasons and projects. He stated that it is imperative for government to make documents available so the people can assess and judge for themselves.
”Seth Terkper came to parliament to basically regurgitated everything that he had said for his budget statement; a lot of what he said is in effect a re-read of the budget that he came up with,” he noted.
He also added that there is a disconnect between the President and the Finance Minister with regards to the Ghana borrowing money and the way they want to explain what they are trying to do.
”You cannot be in a situation where you are not borrowing; …if we are going to borrow money it has to be for a specific purpose and not allow people to dip their hands into the kitty and then the project doesnt get completed, which is what we see,” he lamented.
The state of Ghana’s economy has been the topic of discussions at several fora with many blaming the government for its poor management policies.
But Finance Minister, Seth Terkper on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 said government expects measures being implemented to promote fiscal discipline to begin yielding positive results next year.
According to Mr. Terkper, the economy is responding positively to the fiscal policy measures.
By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana