A Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Anthony Karbo has said that the president got it all wrong when he stated emphatically that the total debt of Ghana, as it stands today from independence, is $24 billion.
He said either the president’s economic advisors did a ‘shoddy’ job by giving him a misleading amount or he (Mahama) used a depreciated exchange rate to calculate the country’s total debt stock.
“President Mahama got it all wrong in this debt stock issue. Someone needs to stop him to prevent further embarrassment because the lies are just too much. I’m sure he (Mahama) used a depreciated exchange rate to calculate the debt stock; else he wouldn’t have come up with such an amount,” he noted.
The NPP communicator was commenting on President Mahama’s assertion that the country’s debt stands at $24 billion.
President John Mahama says Ghana’s total debt stock since independence is 24 billion dollars, rejecting claims by the running mate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia that his government is engaged in excessive borrowing.
On Monday, he told TV3 claims that his government is over borrowing are exaggerated.
“There is a lot of exaggeration about borrowing. The borrowing has not been excessive. I heard one of the candidates say during this government, we have borrowed $37 billion,” he said.
“The total debt of Ghana, as it stands today from independence, is $24 billion.”
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in a direct response to President’s assertion said President John Mahama needs proper briefing on the true state of borrowing that has occurred in the last seven years.
The Running Mate to NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, noted that while the President can be forgiven for his faulty data on the debt situation, it is mindboggling that his economic advisors also seem confused about the point.
Anthony Karbo, who believes the president is “exposing himself,” asked him to stop massaging figures to score political points.
Source: adomonline.com
