PNDC did not inherit huge national debt - Osafo Maafo

The Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo- Maafo on Saturday said the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) did not inherit a huge national debt when it seized power in December 1981 as it was being alleged in some circles.

He told the National Delegates' Congress of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Accra, that the national external debt stood at 198.5 million dollars on December 31, 1981 when the PNDC came into power but this rose to 5.9 billion dollars in December 2000.

This showed that the PNDC and National Democratic Congress (NDC) governments, both under Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, increased the national debt by 2,856 per cent.

Osafo-Maafo said the National Economic Team was working towards a sustainable national economic growth and already the indicators were showing signs of progress, adding: "The Economy is on track."

He said the cedi has stabilised and those, who assert that the stability was artificial, might be reading the wrong signals, explaining that the decline of the cedi by 1.7 per cent since the NPP came into power was as a result of prudent economic management.

"Only few international currencies are able to perform so well against the dollar," he asserted, adding that the government attained that by controlling the release of cedis into the system.

"The Economic Management Team is working towards a single digit inflation by the end of the first term of President John Agyekum Kufuor."

He said one of the ailments of the economy was revenue generation and expenditure ratio, explaining that 98 per cent of revenue was used to service debts and pay wages leaving only two per cent for investment.

The Minister urged the delegates to assist in revenue collection at the district level and also to ensure the prudent management of resources.