John Kumah is a deputy finance minister
•A deputy finance minister has assured Ghana will not default on its debt obligations
•John Kumah believes that the country has never defaulted in its debt repayment as the funds borrowed are invested toward key sectors and projects
•Ghana’s debt stock has so far reached GH¢332.4 billion as at the end of May 2021
A deputy finance minister, John Kumah has assured that government will not default on its debt obligation payments as suggested by some.
Already, figures from the Bank of Ghana indicate the debt stock has reached GH¢304.6 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2021 and for the period ending May 2021, the central bank’s figures showed the country’s public debt stock rose to some GH¢332.4 billion.
Despite this, John Kumah believes Ghana has never defaulted in payment of debt as funds borrowed are being invested towards key projects and sectors that will assist the government to pay back the loans.
In an interaction with JoyNews monitored by GhanaWeb, John Kumah said “we should realize or ask, where are these funds being directed to, are they going to areas that will aid the recovery?”
“Ghana has never defaulted in its debt payment and I don’t see that happening soon. Government is now building the required assets, capacity and expanding the economy to help bring the debts to appreciable levels,” John Kumah said.
The deputy finance minister argued most of the funds borrowed were as a result of COVID-19 related as part of efforts to cushion the economy from its impact.
“We should also remember that some of these borrowings were indeed to save the lives of people during this COVID-19,” he said.