Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Prof. Peter Quartey has cautioned government to stick to the election budget and desist from overspending to save the country from going into another crisis in 2025.
Speaking at the 7th Biennial Social Science Conference 2014 by the Faculty of Social Science Education at the University of Education Winneba, Prof Peter Quartey said, in every election year, our deficit target and the outcome are different from the year 2000 to 2020 due to unnecessary overspending.
In an interview with Adom News, Prof Quartey stated that the target deficit for 2000 was 6.1% of GDP.
However, in 2004, the government spent 9.7%, rather than 1.7%. 3.8 % instead of 4%, it increased to 11.5% in 2008, 6.7% in 2012, 8.7% in 2016, and 11.7 percent in 2020.
Prof Quartey said, every government spends unnecessarily in every election year and use the next three years to solve the crisis they created.
He called on Ghanaians to tighten their belt in 2025 if the government tries to overspend in the upcoming elections.
Meanwhile, a Government Statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim also appealed to Ghanaians to start thinking about pandemic preparedness to avoid challenges we face during COVID-19.
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