The Minority was unhappy on Monday, July 25, when the Minister of Finance offered no update on Ghana’s debt and measures being taken on sustainability. Speaking to the media after the 2022 Mid-Year Budget Review Statement to Parliament, Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson said the Minority is unhappy the Finance Minister failed to give an update on how government is dealing with the worrying debt situation of the country.
“Everything in this country is not working yet the Minister responsible for Finance appeared before us and said nothing, he failed to address the very concerns of the ordinary Ghanaians.
“Today, he comes here once again only to tell us that he has missed all the targets he set in the 2022 budget, every one of them, he could not achieve…Today, our public debt is in excess of 400billion cedis and yet the Minister in this document fails to talk about the public debt,” Dr. Ato Forson told journalists.
Speaking on the matter, Dr. Gideon Boako who is the Spokesperson for Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia said the omission of debt issues in the mid-year budget review is not because government is running away from the matter.
“I think the issue about debt is something that the government cannot run away from. Already, there is a debt analysis report that is presented to Parliament.
“The whole IMF engagement is going to center on more or less, debt sustainability because the IMF will not lend to unsustainability, and so before the IMF lends to you they have to make sure that you are on a sustainable path. So certainly, debt is a bigger issue that government will have to deal with,” he explained in an interview with Citi TV.
According to him, if debt sustainability has not been addressed in the mid-year budget review statement, it will be addressed in the main budget for 2023.
“But I guess and understand that probably, the main budget document, there is no way debt can be skipped in the presentation, and the speech of the Minister to Parliament, it is not everything that can be spelt out in the speech.”
“So I can understand from that angle but the issue about debt and how government intends to go on the path of debt sustainability, and some of them are reflected in the macro targets that government talks about, the primary balance. Because if you are not going to have positive primary balance, it will be difficult for you to convince any body that you will be on a debt sustainability,” Dr. Gideon Boako added.
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