This government has borrowed too much – Prof. Adei

He opined at the sidelines of the Signature Market Pre-launch campaign at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi that the mistake this New Patriotic Party (NPP) government made was to have borrowed beyond its capacity.

“I think the biggest mistake they [the government] made is that they borrowed beyond our capacity to service it,” Adei, the former board chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), said.

“If you are a country and you borrow beyond your capacity, you will be in trouble, of course, COVID-19 came in, and the Russia-Ukraine [war, too],” he added.

He however, urged that the government admit and accept responsibility and work hard to turn things around.

“But the reason why things got worse is because of these underlying mistakes they made and they must admit it. If not they won’t be going to the IMF,” Adei added.

“We have to learn and not repeat our mistakes by going on a borrowing spree”, he urged the government.

Meanwhile, President Nana Akufo-Addo in his last state of the nation address mounted a strong defence for the government’s continuous borrowing.

He said in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, the NPP government has not been reckless in spending.

“We have not been reckless in borrowing and spending. It is worth noting that the debts we are servicing were not only contracted during the period of this administration.

“Considering the amount of work that still needs to be done on the state of our roads, the bridges that have to be built, considering the number of classrooms that need to be built, the furniture and equipment needed at all stages of education… I dare say no one can suggest we have over-borrowed or spent recklessly,” Akufo-Addo said.

Ghana is trying to restructure most of its public debt, estimated at GHC576 billion (US$45 billion) at the end of November.