Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has fiercely questioned the government’s fiscal strategy, pointing out that domestic revenue failure has forced the administration back into heavy borrowing just nine weeks after exiting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
The Ofoase-Ayirebi MP expressed grave concern that, barely two months after completing the IMF Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme, the Mahama administration has returned to Parliament seeking approval for nearly $1 billion in new foreign loans.
Debating a motion for the approval of several international financing agreements, the former Information Minister urged MPs to look at the massive cumulative debt being stacked up within such a short window rather than evaluating each loan individually.
Opening his remarks with the French expression, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”—meaning “the more things change, the more they remain the same”—he argued that despite government’s declaration that Ghana had successfully exited the IMF programme, the country’s dependence on external borrowing appears to be continuing.
He recalled that on May 15, 2026, the government announced Ghana’s successful exit from the IMF ECF programme, describing it as a major milestone in the country’s economic recovery.
However, he noted that just nine weeks later, Parliament is being asked to approve borrowing close to $1 billion.
According to him, the package includes about $300 million for the education sector, $500 million for road infrastructure, roughly $22 million for the Ministry of Finance, in addition to net borrowing of about $180 million already captured in the 2026 Budget.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah clarified that the Minority is not opposed to the projects being financed.
Having served in both government and opposition, he acknowledged that development financing serves legitimate national purposes and stressed that his concern was not with the sectors earmarked to benefit from the loans.
Instead, he argued that the key issue is why the government has returned to the debt market so soon after the IMF programme ended.
The former Information Minister said government had assured Ghanaians during the 2026 Budget that it had a stronger fiscal strategy capable of removing taxes while increasing revenue to 18 per cent of GDP.
He said he publicly supported that target at the time.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana