{"id":91202,"date":"2015-02-13T20:13:15","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T20:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=91202"},"modified":"2015-02-13T20:55:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T20:55:02","slug":"show-us-how-ghanas-debt-will-be-paid-npp-mp-to-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=91202","title":{"rendered":"Show how Ghana\u2019s debt will be paid \u2013 MP to gov\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Member of Parliament\u2019s Finance\"\"<\/a> Committee, Kwaku Kwarteng has charged government to show how it intends to clear the massive debt it has incurred since assuming the reins of power.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”UiqQkzyCsnneC3rjcIDeTAKEPr3A8mBZ”]His call comes on the back of a warning from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) that the government\u00a0needs to check its borrowing<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u00a0as it may grow up to 70 percent by the end of 2016.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with Citi News<\/strong> the Obuasi West Member of Parliament on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) insisted that there is a need to stop what he calls reckless spending to save the economy.<\/p>\n

Ghana’s public debt<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Bank of Ghana, the nation’s public debt level increased\u00a0from GHC 63.6 billion to GHC 65.7 billion<\/span><\/strong><\/a> in 2014 .<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were borrowing and spending well, we will be making the necessary inflows and to pay back some of the loans. The real issue is that we are borrowing so much [and] we are having to pay so much by way of interest payments and yet the economy into which we are supposedly borrowing so much is not generating enough money to do even some of the basic things we have to do,\u201d he indicated.<\/p>\n

Mr Kwarteng explained that the economy is in distress hence the need for government to find alternatives ways of funding its expenditure.<\/p>\n

He said instead of planning and utilizing available resources \u00a0to fix\u00a0the economy\u00a0\u201cgovernment chose to do more borrowing\u201d instead.<\/p>\n

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu had stated that Ghana could return to the Highly Indebted Poor Country<\/strong><\/a><\/span>(HIPC) regime if government continues to secure more loans from foreign institutions.<\/p>\n

Borrowing not solution<\/strong><\/p>\n

He further called on government to \u201cdemonstrate clearly how it intends to take this country out of the fiscal hole we find ourselves,\u201d while advising government that \u201cthis borrowing is not a solution,” to salvage the Ghana’s economy.<\/p>\n

\"Seth<\/a>
Seth Tekper, Finance\"\"<\/a> Minister<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf we continue like this we are going to get to a point where people will just not lend to us and when that time comes we will see how much damage we have done our economy and our country by reckless management of the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a related development,\u00a0Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, running-mate for the New Patriotic Party\u2019s (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Akufo Addo had observed that Ghana risks being classified as a country with a high risk of debt distress<\/strong><\/a><\/span> by International rating agencies because of the continuous borrowing.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n

Follow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
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