Reckless spending affecting the economy - Kwakye Ofosu

Communications team member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has stated that reckless spending by the government has led to the economic situation in the country.

His comments come on the back of government’s borrowing deficit amounting to a whopping five hundred billion Ghana Cedis.

In an interview on Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV, on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, the former parliamentarian said the government's failure to manage the economy is due to deliberate and reckless spending but not Covid-19 Pandemic and Russia-Ukraine War.

“How did we come to this juncture, and that is where my brother attempted to make excuses claiming that there is some blockade not allowing ships to move to and fro, there is Covid, there is war, there is everything, which country in this world did not suffer from Covid, even there are countries in which up to 1 million people died from Covid infections at a point, in places like Egypt and Italy people were dying in thousands daily. All west African countries suffered from Covid yet there is not one country from West Africa that has these horrible economic outcomes, so the Covid excuse is still and no longer makes sense.

“The reality is that what we are suffering now is not the result of Covid but a result of deliberate recklessness you decide that you will spend yourself and become bankrupt because you needed to win election and you turn round and blame Covid," he noted.

Mr. Kwakye Ofosu also asserted that the NPP government lacks credibility in the management of the economy and chided them for turning against their own words.

“It’s the same finance minister and deputies who flatly denied that they were not going to IMF. Indeed his boss, Alhaji Bawumia, was he not the one who made IMF look like devil with horns and tails in 2016 and branded the NDC government incompetent because of going to IMF?

“When the now majority leader, Casiel Ato Forson, said at a function at UPSA last year, that there were going to be haircuts, was it not just 24 hours after that the president of the country denied that there will be haircut, in this budget the minister speaks about hair cut which they cynically call it the ‘Domestic Debt Exchange Program’ under which they have taken over Ghc100 billion belonging to bond holders. The pain and suffering that this sort of manouver has caused is unprecedented.

"The Ghanaian middle class risk being entirely wiped out because of this. How does the government praise itself after causing harm to livelihoods.

“In the first eight months of last year, the cedi depreciated by 54% basically wiping out its value go and check the criticisms by the NPP led by Dr. Alhaji Bawumia, levelled at the NDC when the Dollar exchange against the Cedi at 3.8 cedis, Mr. Kwakye Fosu further noted.

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BS/WA