Records Ofori-Atta has broken as finance minister

Ken Ofori-Atta was relieved of his duties as finance minister by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.

The former minister is reportedly set to take on other key roles in the Akufo-Addo government, including the senior presidential advisor on the economy and special envoy on international investment and the capital markets.

Be it as it may, Ofori-Atta's tenure as finance minister can be termed as a memorable one as he saw Ghana through major global events, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War.

These global economic events and other domestic factors also led to a lot of economic lows under Ofori-Atta’s reign, including a record inflation rate of 54.1% in December 2022, with the country’s currency depreciating by 55% between January and October 2022.

Aside from these economic lows, here are some of the events that marked Ken Ofori-Atta's reign as finance minister:

The longest serving finance minister in the 4th Republic:

Ken Ofori-Atta left his role at his bank, DataBank, to become Ghana’s finance minister on January 27, 2017.

After successfully completing the first term (4 years) of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's tenure, Ofori-Atta was again retained as finance minister in the second term of the government until his sacking on February 14, 2024.

This brings Ofori-Atta’s reign as finance minister to about 7 years, making the longest-serving finance minister Ghana has had in the 4th republic.

Until Ofori-Atta, no finance minister in Ghana's 4th republic has been in office for more than one term (4 years).

The only minister who has taken Ghana out and into an IMF program

Ofori-Atta’s reign as finance minister began with Ghana already implementing an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme started by the John Dramani Mahama government.

In March 2019, Ofori-Atta led Ghana out of the 'shackles' of the IMF after the successful completion of the bailout programme, which was marked by a kenkey party at the inner court of the Ministry of Finance on March 22, 2019.

Having vowed that Ghana’s 16th visit to the IMF was going to be its last, and that another visit would never happen under his watch, Ofori-Atta requested for a $3 billion IMF bailout programme on May 17, 2023, after an order by President Akufo-Addo.

This makes Ofori-Atta the only finance minister in Ghana’s history to lead Ghana out of an IMF bailout programme and subsequently into another one.

The finance minister who accumulated the most debts in Ghana's history

Under Ofori-Atta’s leadership as finance minister, Ghana added about GH¢480 billion to its nearly GH¢600 billion public debts as of March 2023.

The national debt Ofori-Atta inherited as finance minister was about GH¢120 billion.

This means that the Akufo-Addo government has borrowed more money than all of the governments Ghana has had since independence put together.

Here is a list of some of the debts accrued by Ofori-Atta

1. Paris Club - $2 billion

2. Chinese government - $1.9 billion

3. Non-Paris Club members - $3.8 billion

4. Chapmenten - $2.5 billion

5. $8.8 billion to the IMF

6. $14.9 billion to the Eurobond market

7. $8.8 billion in multilateral debts (the highest in Africa).

The finance minister who has gone for the most Eurobonds in Ghana's history

In the history of the 4th republic of Ghana, Ghana has gone for 17 Eurobonds, with 4 of these bonds being acquired in 16 years by 4 governments.

Ofori-Atta alone has led Ghana to sign 11 of these Eurobonds with maturity dates beyond the usual 10 years.

The first Eurobond was also celebrated during the Kenkey party in 2019.

Below is a list of Eurobonds Ofori-Atta has signed for Ghana:

1. Eurobond in May 2018 – 30-year maturity period, bond expires in 20248

2. Eurobond in 2019 - 31 years maturity period

3. Eurobond in 2020, matures in 2061 – 41 years maturity period

4. Eurobond in March 2021, matures in 2041 – 20 years maturity period

The first finance minister to default in the payment of the country's debt:

Lastly, Ken Ofori-Atta is the only finance minister under whose watch the government of Ghana has defaulted in the payment of its international and domestic debts.

In all the previous 16 visits to the IMF, none of the governments defaulted in the payment of its debts.

On December 5, 2022, the finance ministry announced a Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) to restructure its domestic debts as part of efforts to get the $3 billion IMF bailout.

The government also went into agreement with countries and multi-national organisations to restructure its international debts.

BAI/AE

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