The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has indicated that the leading causes of Ghana\u2019s public debt have been identified in this paper as stemming from inefficiencies in governance, which have been revealed in weak procurement practices, poor contingency planning and excessive spending over revenues, inadequate state institutions, and insufficient loan monitoring mechanisms.<\/strong><\/p>\nIn the view of ACEP, these must be addressed through long-term solutions to avoid a recurring cycle of seeking IMF support.<\/p>\n
The energy think tank said in a paper that in recent years, Ghana\u2019s public debt has been steadily rising, and as of November 2022, it amounted to GHS 575 billion, with GHS 382.7 billion being external debt and GH\u00a2193.1 billion domestic debt.<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 pandemic-induced spending has contributed to widening the gap between revenues and expenditure, about 79% in 2020. The government secured approximately $1.5 billion from various development partners, including the IMF, World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), to fund pandemic-related expenses in 2020, further increasing the country\u2019s debt burden.<\/p>\n
Despite requesting IMF assistance for the 17th time to achieve fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability, it said, an analysis of Ghana\u2019s governance structure suggests that the measures taken will only provide short to medium-term fiscal consolidation and balance of payments. Even after concluding the 16th IMF programme in 2019, the Fund expressed concerns about Ghana\u2019s fiscal vulnerabilities, and the country remained on this path.<\/p>\n
The government has identified revenue-generating measures through additional taxes, but these have not significantly contributed to the worsening debt distress and economic challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe leading causes of Ghana\u2019s public debt have been identified in this paper as stemming from inefficiencies in governance, which have been revealed in weak procurement practices, poor contingency planning and excessive spending over revenues, inadequate state institutions, and insufficient loan monitoring mechanisms. These must be addressed through long-term solutions to avoid a recurring cycle of seeking IMF support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe discussion highlights that resolving Ghana\u2019s debt requires more than just IMF programs. The governance structure needs significant changes to ensure accountability, efficiency, and effective policy implementation. Therefore, this report proposes the following recommendations for the government to consider,\u201d ACEP stressed.<\/p>\n
It further stated that \u201cThere is a need for a national dialogue on the most effective procurement system that aligns with the Ghanaian context and delivers value to citizens. Ghana should align its expenditures with its revenue to reduce deficit spending. Merely relying on GDP as a benchmark is insufficient, particularly when the disparity between expenditure and revenue is widening from 21% in 2018 to 52% in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an urgent need for a performance audit of all state agencies to establish optimal numbers of staff and administrative budgets for their operations. The government must establish mechanisms to assess the effectiveness of expenditure and the capacity of projects to deliver value that facilitates loan repayments. It is imperative that the private sector participates in the power sector with effective regulation by the state to ensure their delivery of value. Tier-two pension investments could be an option to mobilise domestic revenue for power sector investments. It is unacceptable for the government to spend billions of dollars to meet payment obligations resulting from poor management and procurement-driven investments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government should enforce laws transparently to encourage investments and assure investors of fair treatment in the energy and extractive sectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a need for active citizenship and frequent conversations on how governance addresses the country\u2019s fiscal challenges. This requires the participation of the private sector, media and Civil Society on the broad governance challenges that could lead to debt unsustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has indicated that the leading causes of Ghana\u2019s public debt have been identified in this paper as stemming from inefficiencies in governance, which have been revealed in weak procurement practices, poor contingency planning and excessive spending over revenues, inadequate state institutions, and insufficient loan monitoring mechanisms. In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n
Address causes of Ghana\u2019s high public debt to avoid recurring cycle of seeking IMF support - Govt told - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Address causes of Ghana\u2019s high public debt to avoid recurring cycle of seeking IMF support - Govt told - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has indicated that the leading causes of Ghana\u2019s public debt have been identified in this paper as stemming from inefficiencies in governance, which have been revealed in weak procurement practices, poor contingency planning and excessive spending over revenues, inadequate state institutions, and insufficient loan monitoring mechanisms. In the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-06T13:28:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Debt-Stock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/\",\"name\":\"Address causes of Ghana\u2019s high public debt to avoid recurring cycle of seeking IMF support - Govt told - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Debt-Stock.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-06T13:28:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-06T13:28:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Debt-Stock.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Debt-Stock.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Address causes of Ghana\u2019s high public debt to avoid recurring cycle of seeking IMF support – Govt told\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/author\/ghanamma\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Address causes of Ghana\u2019s high public debt to avoid recurring cycle of seeking IMF support - Govt told - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Address causes of Ghana\u2019s high public debt to avoid recurring cycle of seeking IMF support - Govt told - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has indicated that the leading causes of Ghana\u2019s public debt have been identified in this paper as stemming from inefficiencies in governance, which have been revealed in weak procurement practices, poor contingency planning and excessive spending over revenues, inadequate state institutions, and insufficient loan monitoring mechanisms. In the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2023-04-06T13:28:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":440,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Debt-Stock.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/","name":"Address causes of Ghana\u2019s high public debt to avoid recurring cycle of seeking IMF support - Govt told - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Debt-Stock.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-06T13:28:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-06T13:28:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Debt-Stock.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Debt-Stock.jpg","width":620,"height":440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/06\/address-causes-of-ghanas-high-public-debt-to-avoid-recurring-cycle-of-seeking-imf-support-govt-told\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Address causes of Ghana\u2019s high public debt to avoid recurring cycle of seeking IMF support – Govt told"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/1680787699_446_Debt-Stock.jpg\" "\\"Debt-Stock\\"\/")