Business News of Wednesday, 28 October 2020

Source: 3news.com

Paint true picture of debt situation – Govt told

Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta

Country Director of Social Enterprise Development Foundation of Ghana (SEND-Ghana) George Osei-Bimpeh has asked the government of Ghana to outline clear measures to handle the rising debt in Ghana.

He said the 2021 first-quarter budget statement, which is expected to be read by the Finance Minister on Wednesday, October 28, has to catalog all the strategies to tackle the debts.

A report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio, which currently stands at 68.3 percent, will hit 76.7 percent by the end of December this year.

Speaking in an interview on 3FM’s Sunrise morning show hosted by Alfred Ocansey on Wednesday, October 28, Mr. Osei-Bimpeh also called on the Finance Minister to be candid with Ghanaians regarding the debt situation.

“It is very good to see that the government is putting in place strategies to address the rising debt level.

“Today, the finance minister should be speaking to us in terms of what those strategies are and establish their variability in terms of helping us get out of this mess.

“There are a lot of things that haven’t been added to their portfolio in terms of the official statistics.

“We need to have a clear picture and we don’t need to shy away from telling the truth to the people,” he added.