‘Gov’t Won’t Stop Borrowing, Even US Borrows’ – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said his government will continue to borrow money to put up projects he described as “assets”, stressing that every country including the United Nations as well borrows.

The president was speaking at an entrepreneurship forum in Nigeria on Thursday organised by the Tony Elumelo Foundation when he was asked about his government’s borrowing culture.

In response, he said: “We will borrow money; everybody borrows money. The United States of America is one of the biggest debtors in the world.

“So borrowing money is not necessarily a betrayal of the concept of independence. The key for us in borrowing money is that we borrow money to create assets that will allow us to pay the money back.

“That is the key…If we borrow the money and use it properly it is an asset for us in expanding our economy and infrastructure.”

President Nana Akufo-Addo and his Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia while in opposition criticized the Mahama government over what they called excessive borrowing.

Mahama according to Bawumia had a voracious appetite for foreign loans, an action he described as “reckless” and “worrying.”

“On this track, Ghana is clearly on the way back to the unsustainable debt level that pushed us to HIPC. This is a worrying development because Ghana received HIPC relieve just ten years ago after a similar debt binge by the previous NDC government. If the current borrowing binge continuous it will only be a matter of time before the international rating agency will classify Ghana as a country with a high risk of debt distress,” he warned.

Dr. Bawumia was addressing members of the NPP UK branch and the Young Executive Forum in the UK in November 2014 when he made those assertions.