Former President, John Dramani Mahama, says figures put out by government on the state of the country’s economic affairs are false.
According to him, IMFs last month’s review of the Staff Report on the Ghana Article four Consultations, revealed irregularities in government’s fiscal reporting.
He said the IMF stated that the financial sector bailout for instance, automatically added to the budget deficit as well as public debt. This he noted is unacceptable as the use of the bailout as footnote by government is a deliberate attempt to reduce the size of the budget deficit.
GBC’s Naa Dzagbley Ago reports that the former President’s address which was streamed live on Facebook touched on a range of issues, spanning the banking sector clean-up, worsening public debt, utilisation of Eurobond proceeds and the cocoa sector.
Mr. Mahama said government’s action regarding the financial sector cleanup was completely outside the acceptable fiscal responsibility framework.
Mr. Mahama bemoaned the high rising public debt, stating that it is a worrying situation which requires urgent attention. He said the current administration has increased the public debt from ¢120 billion as at December, 2016 to ¢218 billion.
He said it is unfortunate that as government continues to issue more Euro-bonds, the proceeds are used for recurrent expenditure rather than capital expenditure.
He said his administration will pay critical attention to the cocoa sector which continues to suffer major setbacks.
Former President Mahama gave the assurance that when given the nod, he will create dignifying jobs and create an enabling environment where private sector businesses can thrive.
