Excessive borrowing pushed Ghana to IMF – Spio

Ghana has had to seek financial bailout from the International Monitory Fund because the country has been reckless with borrowing over the years, Trades Minister Ekow Spio-Gabrah has observed.

According to him, the country appears to have borrowed excessively in the past because there were banks that were ready to offer it loans.

“One of the challenges we’ve had as a country and one of the reasons why we are in discussions with the IMF is that for many years, we just chose to borrow and borrow just because there are many banks in the world which were ready to give you loans if you are credit worthy,” the former communications minister told a gathering at the 3rd edition of the Ghana economic outlook and business strategy conference of 2015 held in Accra.

He continued: “The fact that a bank wants to give you a loan doesn't mean that you can’t and shouldn't explore the equity side and indeed most projects do best when there is a little bit of equity as well as loans to go with the project”.

Ghana is seeking to restore policy credibility by asking the International Monetary Fund to help rescue its currency.

The bailout programme is expected to roll-out later this year.