Private legal practitioner Jonathan Amable has warned that the next government will face severe challenges in managing the country’s mounting debt.
He projected that debt obligations for 2025 through 2028 will be overwhelming unless the current borrowing spree is curtailed.
Amable expressed serious concerns about the government’s spending, which he said far exceeds revenue generation.
Speaking on The Point of View with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV, he pointed out that despite ongoing debt restructuring efforts, the country’s debt burden continues to grow.
“We declared moratorium or stopped servicing our debts in 2022, just look at the figure of our debt as of 2022. And look at the figure we have now, it’s much higher. And so obviously, even with the restructuring and things that have happened, our debt is still accumulating at an alarming rate. Look, if you think about the obligations that are coming, just speak with any financial advisor, the obligations that are on the government from 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028 are so huge.
“[Next government] They will have a huge challenge. We will have prices on our hands, if we’re lucky we will not have a balance payments crisis. But we may have a balance payment of crisis. If you look at all the foreign payments that are due, we don’t have access to the international capital market, our cocoa is performing poorly… We’re really living on the edge.”
Amable is seeking to halt the government’s borrowing in the Treasury Bills market.
The plaintiff in the writ filed at the Supreme Court in February and November 2024 is demanding that the government and all its agents be stopped from issuing treasury bills to finance government business because the government failed to seek parliamentary approval for such issuance.
Jonathan Amable argues that the government’s action is contrary to provisions in the 1992 constitution. He further avers that, if not prohibited, the development will continue to have a dire effect on the economy.
The injunction application also asks the Supreme Court to cite the action of the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana as unconstitutional.
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