Amaliba names ‘quadruple whammy’ responsible for Ghana’s huge public debt

Abraham Amaliba, the Director of Conflict Resolution for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said Ghana’s economic quagmire has been due to the actions of what he describes as a “quadruple whammy”. 

According to Amaliba, Ghana’s economy is in a mess as a result of some four persons in this current administration whose poor actions and policies have rendered Ghana’s economy a “borla” one.

Speaking on the current state of the public debt as indicated by the Fiance Minister in Parliament, he noted President Akufo-Addo as the first person amongst the quartet that has led the nation to its current state.

He explained that “at a time when this country was on its knees, this man [President Akufo-Addo] will chatter a luxurious jet and fly all over the country and even one of them was to go and watch a football match –Tottenham Hotspur and some team. How is that inuring to our benefit Mr. President? Now the public purse is even missing under his reign, he is no more protecting it.”

Naming the Vice President and flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party as the second person, Mr. Amaliba stated that “Bawumia is a man we were told is an economic guru. He heads the Economic Management Team, he spoke and told us the same things you are telling us that because he works at the Bank of Ghana, he knows how to manage this economy and we didn’t need to borrow. Today, we have borrowed this country into debt. And who did that borrowing, the third person is Ken Ofori-Atta.”

“His whole tenure as Finance Minister was borrowing [and] at the end of the day, he also gets some benefits from the borrowing. All those monies went to his Databank and he himself,” he explained.

The last person, Amaliba revealed, “is the governor of Bank of Ghana, Addison, who decided to use the Bank of Ghana as a source of printing money and ensuring that those monies go to the government, [and] today, the BoG is broke. When you look at their balance sheet, the BoG is broke. Never has this happen and so if you comb round, it is easy to know how we got to where we are.”

Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the Minister of Finance, announced that government’s debt stock has reached GH¢742.0 billion (US$50.9 billion) as of the end of June 2024.

The sum, according to the Minister, was equivalent to 70.6 per cent the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The depreciation of the cedi, the Minister noted, has contributed to a 22 per cent rise of the debt, as well as creditors’ disbursements.

“This indicates an increase of 22.0 per cent due to the effect of the cedi depreciation and the continuous disbursements from creditors,“ he indicated whilst speaking in Parliament during the presentation of the 2024 mid-year budget review Tuesday, July 23, 2024.

Dr. Amin Adam disclosed further that GH¢452.0 billion constituting 60.9 per cent out of the total debt was external, with the remaining GH¢290.0 billion being domestic debt, accounting for 39.1 per cent of the total.

“As a percentage of GDP, external and domestic debt represented 43.0 percent and 27.6 percent, respectively,” he said.

Source:onuaonline.com