$200bn DEBT STOCK: Minority challenges government to publish list of loans acquired by NDC government

The minority in parliament has challenged government to publish the list of all loans contracted by the former president Mahama’s administration which has shot up the public debt stock.

Ranking member of the finance committee, Cassiel Ato Forson addressing a news conference in Accra said, government cannot blame the soaring debt stock on the Mahama administration when existing records show fresh debts incurred by the current government.

Last week, the minority in Parliament raised concerns about what they termed as ‘reckless borrowing’ by government adding that president Akufo Addo’s government alone within a period of two and half years has borrowed 80 billion Dollars to fund invisible projects.

They also blamed the government for mismanaging the economy which has unnecessarily led to the increment of the national debt stock, an allegation government has denied.

The caution was as a result of the leadership’s taste for the acquisition of fat loans.

Ghana’s debt stock shot up from 120 billion Dollars in 2016 to 200 billion Dollars in the first half of 2019.

On Tuesday, ranking member of the finance committee of parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson who is also the Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency, disclosed government has received 120 billion Dollars in both tax and non-tax revenues since assumption of office.

He however debunked government’s claims that the NDC while in power borrowed more than 120 billion Dollars claiming proper calculations were not done.

Cassiel Ato Forson setting the record straight urged government to redo their calculation by using the 2016 exchange rate figures instead of 2017.

He also dared government to release list of all loans contracted by the NDC government that has inflated the country’s debt stock.

Attached is an audio from the press conference.