Debts: IMF’s projections for Ghana mere statistics – Ken Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has described the projections made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding Ghana’s debt situation as merely statistical.

He told TV3’s Etornam Sey in an exclusive interview on Monday, October 26 that the government of Ghana was not too concerned about the debt because attention was focused on spending the funds to protect Ghanaians against the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The lives of the people, he said, matter to the government than debt.

Similarly, he added, the government spent huge sums of money during the cleanup exercise in the banking sector which resulted in the collapsed of nine domestic banks.

A report from the IMF has projected that Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio which currently stands at 68.3% will hit 76.7% by the end of December this year.

But Mr Ofori Atta said “The IMF is expecting developed countries to have 125% debt to GDP ratio. Countries like ours is doing about 65%.

“When you discount what was spent on the financial service and on the energy sector, that brings it back. I guess the question for any nation at this pandemic time is, what you put forward first.

“The lives of the people who then become productive or you stick to some statistical numbers as an issue from stopping you from saving lives. I think we have chosen the latter.”