The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Ntim, has vehemently refuted claims by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the Akufo-Addo-led government has over borrowed.

Addressing the media at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, Mr. Ntim said the NDC always computes debt stock using nominal figures, but the best way to see which government has borrowed more is to use the rate of accumulation.

“One of the central claims of the NDC’s false State of the Nation address is that this government has over-borrowed. This is not true” he said.

“The NDC likes to promote this misinformation by computing our debt stock, using nominal figures because it hides their unprecedented rate of debt accumulation.

“The best way to compute our debt to see which government has borrowed more is by using the rate of accumulation.”

The national head of the NPP also noted that between 2009 and 2016, under the NDC, Ghana’s debt stock rose from 9.7 billion to 122 billion cedis and that the Akufo-Addo administration has only added a small amount of debt to that total.

“Former president Kuffuor inherited a debt stock of approximately of 5.4 billion in 2001 and added about 81 percent to it.

“NDC inherited a debt stock of 9.7 billion in 2009, and by 2016, they increased it to 122 billion Ghana cedis. That represents 819 percent growth in the debt stock.

“The NPP government which the NDC characterizes as having over-borrowed has added just about 304 percent to the debt stock.

The 304 percent of the total debt accumulated under this government includes the cost of the banking sector clean-up. The government had to cushion depositors which they cost, energy sector debt payment and the Covid-19 debt.”

He acknowledged that Ghana has debt challenges, but what the NDC has been saying about the current government is not true.

“Ghana has a debt challenge, but it is inaccurate for the NDC to suggest that this government has over-borrowed.

The borrowing narrative the NDC keeps propagating is a product of misleading computation of Ghana’s debt designed to mischaracterize the record of this government,” he stressed.

Source: Ghana/Sompaonline.com/Nana Yaw Boamah