A private legal practitioner, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, has bemoaned the unbudgeted and overspending nature of the government which he said has thrown the Ghanaian economy into a state of crisis.
Speaking on Asaase Radio’s Saturday morning news analysis and current affairs show – The Forum – Saturday (13 November), Addo said the economies of neighbouring countries including Cote d’Ivoire and Togo are performing way better than Ghana, despite having the same effects of the coronavirus pandemic,
He argued that the government has no excuse to use the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to justify its economic mismanagement.
Addo said, “It is this overspending that has led to this large deficit that has undermined the economy and left it in bad shape. Data from our neighbours and other comparators in sub-Saharan Africa who were also ravaged by COVID-19 clearly shows that almost all of them kept their economy within manageable limits and have not thrown them into an economic crisis as we find ourselves in.
“COVID-19 did not affect us any more extraordinarily than it did Cote d’Ivoire. Yet their budget deficit for 2020 was 5.9% and their debt to GDP ratio stands at 45.7%. Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Niger among others have deficits below 7% whiles their debts to GDP are nowhere near the 80% that we (Ghana) have recorded.”
“The reasons are very clear, this government in the name of COVID, got US$2 billion relief from the IMF and what did they do with it? Consumables. And that’s what this government does. It’s either borrow and have nothing to show for it or spend frivolously,” he stated.
Former President John Dramani Mahama earlier this week accused the Akufo-Addo led administration of seeking to justify its poor economic management with the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing the nation to end his tour of the 16 regions, the 2020 NDC flagbearer expressed worry over the current state of Ghana’s economy.
According to him, the government’s poor and reckless management of the economy is due to overspending on the 2020 elections and not the effects of the pandemic.
However, in responding to the former president’s claims, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is on an agenda to fuel a perception of hardship in the country.
The governing party’s director of communication, Yaw Buaben Asamoa believes the country is in a good state and President Akufo-Addo is working hard to increase productivity and improve livelihoods.
He urged Ghanaians to realise that Mahama and his team are only scheming to regain power in order to resume mismanaging the country.
Nicholas Brown
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