Following the recent projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Ghana’s Debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could hit 88.4 percent in 2026; an all-time high, economic watchers have expressed some frustration at the government’s inability to sustainably deal with the increasingly worrying situation.
A Development Economist, Michael Adongo said while the predictions are worrying, it has become relatively easy to predict where Ghana’s debt stock would be in the coming years because of the depressingly abysmal handling of the economy by the government over the past couple of years.
He was speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show.
According to Dr Adongo, the country cannot survive without borrowing, thus, allowing the debt stock to continue to balloon.
“You realise that we are broke and we cannot do anything without borrowing so once it is very clear that we cannot do anything without borrowing it stands to reason that we cannot avoid a scenario where our debt to GDP ratio increases year-in-year-out. If you look at it, as it stands now, you would want to ask yourself, do you see anything happening either Internationally or locally?”.
According to the Development Economist, even though internationally prices of oil have shot up Ghana cannot still take advantage of that to maximise profit because the government have not put in place the necessary avenues to mobilise revenue.
The economist also believes that the government, in order to avert the worsening debt stock of the country, must be prepared to cut down costs on certain expenditures to resuscitate the already paralysed economy and place it on the path of recovery.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Kennedy Zongbil|Bolgatanga|Ghana
