Ken Ofori Atta – Finance Minister Ghana
The announcement by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) that the public debt stock as at the end of November 2020 has risen to GH¢286.9 billion is once again the subject of public debate about prudent management of the public debt stock.
The figure represents 74.4% of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The sustainability of the debt, how Ken Ofori-Atta managed it in the last four years compared to the situation before the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assumed office is sharply in focus.
Oftentimes, public debt arises when government spending is more than its revenue and therefore borrows either domestically and/or externally to close the gap.
In different times, the president of South Africa would have been one of the world leaders in Switzerland this week for the annual gathering of the global elite in Davos. But the January talkfest has been online-only, and covered less avidly than usual by the media. That’s a pity in Cyril Ramaphosa’s case because of what he had to say about the dangers of “ vaccine nationalism”: that while the leaders of the world’s richest countries keep.
“These cuts will have very real impacts on the lives and livelihoods of real girls and women: for our programmes in particular, they mean less access to social capital critical to girls’ survival, less access to education and livelihood opportunities, and less access to alternative life skills provision. It’s simply giving up on these girls and women and stating that their lives matter less, as they’re the first to be expended.”
Oxfam’s head of policy Sam Nadel urged the government to reconsider.
“Cutting aid in the middle of a pandemic when hundreds of millions are at risk of falling into poverty is a dereliction of Britain’s duty to the world’s poorest people and will cost lives,” he said.
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Hannah Wanjie Ryder, debt is not bad (PHOTO; Courtesy)
Kenya’s Treasury officials this week will be sighing a breath of relief as the news of debt repayment holiday from bilateral donors including China sink in.
However, that relief will not last long. The debt suspension so far – part of the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) – is only in place for six months, meaning in at most four month’s time headlines such as “Kenya could fail to repay its debt in 2025”. “Kenya is in financial distress, government admits”, Kenya Likely to Breach the U.S.$80 Billion Debt Ceiling By 2022” will resurface. The suspension will only kick an alleged “problem” down the road.
African countries will pay between $3 and $10 per vaccine dose to access 270 million COVID-19 shots secured this month by the African Union (AU), according to a draft briefing on the plan prepared by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and provided to Reuters.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who serves as AU chair, said last week arrangements had been made with the bank to support member states who want access to vaccines. Countries can pay back the loans in instalments over five to seven years, the document showed.
Afreximbank’s press office declined to answer questions on the terms outlined in the briefing, saying the document was in draft form and meant for confidential discussion by members of a team created by Ramaphosa to secure vaccines and financing for the continent’s coronavirus immunization programs. The AU team also declined to comment.