{"id":247010,"date":"2016-09-09T09:45:53","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T09:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=247010"},"modified":"2016-09-09T09:45:53","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T09:45:53","slug":"bawumia-selectively-used-debt-figures-terkper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/09\/bawumia-selectively-used-debt-figures-terkper\/","title":{"rendered":"Bawumia selectively used debt figures – Terkper"},"content":{"rendered":"
Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has accused the New Patriotic Party\u2019s (NPP) running mate for the 2016 elections, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia of selectively using the data on government for his lecture yesterday, September 9, 2016.<\/p>\n
According to Mr. Terkper, it is unrealistic for the NDC to borrow 39.9 billion US dollars as announced by Dr. Bawumia since that will be equivalent to Ghana\u2019s GDP.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”WnTtQZfbCyc0qFaiIon0te3ociNfJ22Z”]At the lecture titled, \u2018The State of the Ghanaian Economy \u2013 A Foundation of Concrete or Straw\u2019, Dr. Bawumia chastised government\u2019s continuous borrowing warning that the country\u2019s debt in dollar terms, would reach as much as $42 billion<\/a><\/strong><\/span> by the end of December 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the end of 2008 following the adoption and implementation of the HIPC initiative, the government\u2019s policy framework of fiscal discipline, the country\u2019s debt to GDP ratio, had declined from 189% in 2000, to 32% of GDP by 2008. Indeed from independence in 1957 to 2008, Ghana\u2019s total debt was 9.5% Billion Cedis; however; in the last seven years alone under this NDC government, Ghana\u2019s total debt has ballooned from 99.5 billion cedis to 100 billion cedis in 2015; and a 105 billion cedis by May 2016. In fact, 66% of Ghana\u2019s debt from independence; has been accumulated under the presidency of John Mahama in just the last three and half years.\u201d<\/p>\n But speaking to Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong>, Mr. Terkper insisted that with figures used by Dr. Bawumia, Ghana\u2019s debt to GDP ratio would be 100 percent but the reverse is the case since Ghana\u2019s debt has rather being going down.<\/p>\n \u201cIf indeed the NDC borrowed 39.9 billion dollars, and we are at \u00a070 percent, even if I grant you 70 percent of GDP which is below 40, then Ghana\u2019s debt \u00a0will be 28 billion dollars. Either you have a record performer of the NDC with paying debt in real terms from Dr. Bawumia\u2019s 47 billion to 28 billion that will be a record, or as I said Dr. Bawumia is using information selectively. When it suits him he holds the cedi to the dollar constant, when he goes on attack against the NDC he relaxes that principle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He stated that when it comes to computations involving GDP, growth and other macroeconomic indicators figures must be used throughout in nominal terms or real terms.<\/p>\n