Be candid with Ghanaians, Ghana is HIPC – NDC to govt

The NDC has lashed out at information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah over his defense that the country is not in a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) situation.

It follows a rebuttal by the minister after claims by NDC flagbearer John Mahama that management of the economy has landed the country in a HIPC situation.

The minister described the claims as “empty propaganda”.

But the National Communications Officer of NDC Sammy Gyamfi says current data suggests that the country is in a worse situation compared to 2001 when it went into a HIPC program.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, he said: “it is important at this stage to make the point that the attempt by the failed Akufo-Addo government to blame our ever-worsening debt position on COVID-19 is unturnable and laughable, to say the least.

“This is because our public debt was already increasing at an alarming rate and had reached unsustainable levels with a debt to GDP ratio of 63% even before we were hit by the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.”

He went on “so even before March 2020 when COVID-19 struck, debt to GDP was hovering around 63%. We had already crossed the acceptable threshold and so you can’t blame this catastrophic debt position we are talking about on covid-19. That argument they make is neither here nor there and Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and government’s spokesperson should be candid to the people of Ghana”.

Mr Gyamfi also accused the Nana-Addo led government of having nothing to show for it’s borrowing

He noted, “what is even sad and bizarre about the unsustainable and catastrophic debt situation president Akufo-Addo has plunged Ghana is that this government cannot show any significant self-financing projects that their unprecedented borrowings have been used for.”

“Unlike President Mahama who can point to many tangible significant and in some cases self-financing projects that he undertook with the about GH?70 billion, he added to the public debt during his tenure in office. President Akufo-Addo can’t boast of any significant or self-financing projects he has undertaken with the over GH?138 billion he has added to the country’s public debt in the last three and a half years.”