Fiscal law, antidote to unrestrained Gov’t spending – Economist

Head of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr Godfred Bokpin is calling for the passage of a fiscal responsibility law to help check excessive spending by the executive.

A Fiscal Responsibility law would require that government declares and commits to the fiscal policy that can be monitored.

Ghana’s total public sector debt stock increased from Ghc 65.7 billion as of the end of August to Ghc70 billion as of the end of September.

Dr Godfred Bokpin says the law, when passed, will help address the recurring economic woes after elections.

He was speaking in an interview with STARR BUSINESS on the need to ensure fiscal discipline.

“We are in this situation largely because of the 2012 elections expenditure which were not necessarily for productivity, so if you spend in that manner, then you realise that the inflationary pressures of that expenditure cannot be unexpected,” Dr Bokpin said.

Dr Bokpin says any support from the IMF must be complemented with efforts aimed at ensuring economic stability.

“The IMF is not coming here for transformation. The goal now is stability, but we have to think beyond that. How do we build on that to ensure transformation of the economy? How do we build on that macroeconomic stability which is very important to preserve our medium-term prospects? Without macroeconomic stability, we cannot preserve the medium-term stability.