2018 budget: Finance Minister was dishonest; debt to GDP is 78% - Isaac Adongo

Bolgatanga Central MP, Isaac Adongo has accused Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Akufo-Addo administration of deliberately concealing the real debt profile of the country.

Reading government’s 2018 budget and policy statement on Wednesday, November 15, 2017, Ken Ofori Atta, who stressed on government’s commitment to solidify gains for as long as they remain managers of the economy, boasted of a return to robust growth, with a real GDP growth of 7.8 percent in the first half of 2017, against 2.7 percent in 2016 as one of the achievements under Akufo-Addo’s administration.

In an interview with Ghanaweb, the agitated Bolga MP who dared government to tell the truth about the current state of the country’s economy claimed the statement was a scam. He questioned why the governing body disclosed the state of the economy as at June and not now.

“If this is not 419 why are you not telling us the true state of the economy now but you are telling us that of June?”

Mr. Adongo further said the NPP’s move to declare September instead of December as the end of the fiscal year to calculate the country’s GDP was a wrong move while adding that Ghana’s GDP to debt is 78% and not 68.3% as revealed in the budget statement for the year 2018.

“You are comparing September to December. December is the actual GDP realized at the end of the year.

He continued, “So if you want to compare, compare December to December and I can assure you that when you add October, November, and December, Ghana’s debt GDP is around 78%. So he came consciously to deceive us by not telling us the true state. You cannot be comparing mid-year figures with end-of-year figures.”