Data is clear we have been reckless with our borrowing – Theo Acheampong

Economist Dr. Theo Acheampong is convinced that the government of Ghana has been reckless with its borrowing and expenditure.

According to him, contrary to President Akufo- Addo’s comment that the economy has hit a downturn due to debts accumulated from the previous government, he noted that the current administration is hugely responsible for the sorry state of the economy.

He said that statistics on the country’s debt accumulation indicates a great portion of it was contracted during the current regime.

“If you look at the statement again that the President made that it is worth noting that the debts that we’re servicing were not only contracted during the period of this administration – yes that is true but if you look at it in the final details, a lot of it actually have been contracted during this administration,” he said.

Explaining his assertion, Dr. Acheamong disclosed that the current government has borrowed three times as much as the Mahama administration and “almost about ten times” as much as former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s administration. This, he says defeats the President’s claim during his delivery of the 2023 SONA in parliament, where he explained that a chunk of the borrowed funds had been channelled into “the unprecedented road construction.”

But Dr. Acheampong has questioned the quality of the roads said to have been constructed with such a huge amount of borrowed money.

“So what is the quality of the roads that have been constructed,” he quizzed.

According to the expert, borrowing is done to also service debt but currently, the country is broke to the extent that “we cannot service our debt.”

He reiterated that data clearly shows that the country has been “on an unsustainable path that has led it down this way,” however, he said there are some positive sides to consider.

He explained that when he takes into account state indicators such as GDP growth, inflation, lending rates, harmony on labour fronts and general sense of security, amongst others currently, he would rate the government 5 out of 10.

He disclosed that in the last couple of years, the country has been exporting more than it imports, saying that the country exported 17.4 billion dollars’ worth of goods and imported just under 15 billion dollars.

Although the country had recorded a positive trade balance which should have shored up its reserves, the “negative outflow from its capital account” has “offset those upflows,” according to the Economist.