We left GHS120bn debt, not GHS122bn – Minority

The Mahama administration left behind a public sector debt of GHS120 billion, not GHS122 billion as claimed by some communicators of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), a former deputy minister Mr Casiel Ato Forson, has said.

The MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam told journalists at a press conference on Tuesday, 11 June 2019 that the government is using the 2017 exchange rate to calculate the debt incurred in 2016, a situation, he says smacks of unfairness.

The lawmaker revealed that the central bank has correctly captured the right figures on its website but the Ministry of Finance has not done that.

He further called on the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta to rectify the error.

“The NPP is out there saying that the NDC left a public debt of GHS122 billion. In fact, that is not true. It is not true because the actual debt the NDC left behind was GHS120 billion,” he said.

“The NPP decided to use different exchange rates in accounting for our foreign debts. In fact, because we left office in December 2016, they should use 31 December 2016 rates and not 30 March 2017.

“In fact, they decided to use the March numbers to change the numbers and create the impression that the NDC left a public debt of GHS122 billion instead of GHS120 billion.

“There is an addition of GHS2 billion which the Auditor-General, in its report to parliament, pointed to the government that what they are doing is deceitful and they are not representing the right fiscal numbers.

“I have also noted that the Bank of Ghana has captured that appropriately but the Ministry of Finance has not, so, the minster responsible for finance should do what is honourable and correct these concerns.”