Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, a former Central Regional Minister in the erstwhile NDC government, says his 9-year-old daughter is concerned about Ghana’s debt problem as the country’s debt continues to rise.
The former NDC MP for Mfantseman, speaking on Kasapa 102.5 FM, said he was frightened when his 9-year-old daughter questioned him about the popular notion of Ghanaian children facing a bleak future as a result of ill decisions made by the country’s leaders.
“Look, last week, while driving her to school, my 9-year-old daughter said something quite upsetting in a talk with her. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah told presenter Bonohene Baffuor Awuah on Ghana Kasa on Kasapa 102.5 Fm that she was concerned about the government’s excessive borrowing to the point that the children have a responsibility to repay those loans in the future.
“I attempted to alleviate her anxieties, but I cried on the way home,” he said, warning that the situation is bleak if the “mountain of debt we’re facing” is not addressed.
Ghana’s overall national debt increased by 3.5 billion dollars in two months, reaching $335.9 billion ($57.9 billion) by the end of July 2021.
This was revealed in the Bank of Ghana’s most recent Summary of Economic and Financial Data.
The new figure corresponds to 76.4 percent of the country’s GDP. However, compared to the 27.8 billion in new money added in April and May 2021, the rate of increase has decreased.
In July 2021, the government said in the Issuance Calendar that borrowing will slow in the third quarter of this year [July 2021 to September 2021], with the government expecting to borrow less than a billion cedis for the three months.
However, it is unclear whether the government’s pledges would be reflected in the August and September 2021 data, which will be announced later.