Prof. Bokpin says the government should be using other countries as benchmark
• Prof Bokpin says it cannot be true the NPP government has been better managers of the economy
• He believes the best comparison will be using the benchmark of other countries
• The Akufo-Addo government has been boasting about how it has managed the economy
Prof. Godfred Alufar Bokpin has maintained that while it appears the incumbent government may have performed better than the previous administration in the handling of Ghana’s debt stock, it is not a yardstick to claim they have a better benchmark in managing the debt stock.
Challenging the vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s claims that even though the country’s debt levels have gone up, they (NPP) have done a better job at the management of the economy, Prof. Bokpin disagreed, reports myjoyonline.com.
Earlier, the vice president, while speaking at the regional seminar of the Tertiary Students Confederacy of the NPP (TESCON), at the University of Cape Coast, he claimed that Ghana’s interest rate, inflation, exchange rate depreciation, and growth have all been managed well by them.
He continued that this shows that they have done a far better job at the management of the country’s debt levels.
But Prof Bokpin maintains that such dynamics cannot mean they have been better managers.
He explained that the only workable comparison to be made in such a case will be between what is the country’s current economic situation against what pertains in countries elsewhere.
He said that “You cannot totally, looking at all the indicators, describe where we find ourselves as prudent debt management. If you look at it in relation to the other macro variables, we have seen some improvement but I think we should not set a trap for ourselves with all these comparisons.”
He continued that “When you even look at the debt levels, and here I’m not going to celebrate the debt to GDP ratio because we do know that it doesn’t tell us the entire story. We also want to look at the implication of rising debt, you want to look at debt service to revenue ratio and we want to find out from government, has that improved? will that constitute prudent debt management?
“The answer will be no, because we are spending more than 50% of our non-oil tax revenue just to service our debt and that is unacceptable by any definition any day any time because when you look at how much we are setting aside just to service the debt, it leaves very little or nothing for the country to spend on.”
