Claims that the new National Democratic Congress (NDC) government borrowed more than ₵38 billion in its first four weeks in power have been denied by Thomas Ampem Nyarko, the deputy finance minister-designate.
His remarks follow concerns raised by Tano North MP Dr. Gideon Boako during the Appointments Committee vetting on Monday, February 24 regarding the government’s borrowing levels.
Dr. Boako contended that the administration had already borrowed ¢38 billion from the domestic market in its first month in office, in spite of the NDC’s campaign pledges to cut borrowing.
“If you follow the trend within January alone, contrary to what we have been told by the government that we want to cut the borrowing and bring the rates down, this government in four weeks has borrowed 38.5 billion cedies.
“That is not a good sign to signal rates to come down. If government decides to slow down on borrowing contrary to what is happening, how are you going to finance government expenditure if you decide to go against the current borrowing and lower the borrowing,” he questioned.
Mr. Nyarko, however, denied the allegation, saying that the administration is more concerned with increasing revenue creation through calculated actions than it is with depending on excessive borrowing.
“Mr chairman, I’m not too sure if the information he is giving about the quantum of the government borrowing is accurate. The briefings that I had indicated that we have borrowed on a net basis far lower than what you are putting but we will have to interrogate that in due time,” he said.
He stated that in order to finance its plans, the government will actively seek revenue collection and reduce spending.
“As for the expenditure, we need to constraint it. Without that, there is no way we will be able to achieve our target. Cutting down the number of ministers by about 24 is signalling that the government recognises the challenges that we are in,” he added.
Source: myjoyonline.com