The Minority in Parliament has criticised the government's decision to secure a 300 million-dollar loan from the World Bank to finance the Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs project.
The caucus argues that the loan, which is intended to support the abolition of the double-track system under the Free SHS programme, reflects the government's failure to effectively manage the country's finances just nine months after Ghana's exit from the IMF programme.
Addressing the House during debate on approval of the loan facility on Tuesday, July 21, Deputy Ranking on the Finance Committee, Dr. Gideon Boako said government is experiencing huge revenue underperformance for which reason it has resorted to the debt market.
"We just exited the IMF Programme and for less than a year, we have begun to see Government resort to the debt market to finance critical investment in this country. It is happening so because the Finance Ministry and the managers of finances in this country are doing little to nothing to ensure that we are bale to raise the needed revenue to finance critical investment in the country.
"If you look at the fiscal revenue from last year, there have been huge revenue underperformance on the path of government," he stated.
Also, Ranking Member on the Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the government is failing to meet its financial obligations.
"You are finding what the IMF warned about, the quasi-fiscal expenses. Look from the various state-owned enterprises, they are now embarking on quasi-fiscal expenses, spending the money on other things.
"It is that reason for which at the central treasury, they can’t find resources to pay for some of these priorities and they have gone back to the debt market," he added.
Parliament on Tuesday, July 21 approved $300m loan facility meant to improve secondary education, build 10 new schools, enhance infrastructure to end double track system, upgrade 37 SHTSs & increase equitable access.
The Credit Facility Agreement is between the Government of Ghana (represented by the Ministry of Finance) and the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group for an amount of US$300,000,000 to finance the Secondary Education Transformation for Access.
The objective of the US$300 million IDA credit facility is to finance the Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance, and Results for Jobs (STARR-J) Project.
Credits: 3News.com
No Comments Yet...