Ghana's debt crisis alarming because we're borrowing to consume - Sam Jonah

He said the country government revenue in external debt payments each year.

According to him, "I will start off by talking about that which concerns or ought to concern all of us, and that which keeps me awake at night. And it is about the state of the economy and its prospects going forward.

"I know what an economy should look like to attract the necessary investment for national development."

In a speech to Rotarians in Accra titled 'Down the up escalator – Reflections on Ghana's future by a senior citizen', Sir Jonah stated that data available "for the first quarter of 2020, GDP grew at a rate of 4.6%, contracted to -3.2% for the second quarter and -1.1% for the third quarter, giving an average outturn of 0.2% for the three quarters of the year adding that the economy grew at the rate of 6%. At the end of the third quarter, the industry sector contracted at -3.1% while services grew at 1.9%.

"Only the agriculture sector...increased in its growth rate recording 4.5% at the end of the third quarter as compared to 3.7% for the same period in 2019."

He stated: "This is telling us something, right? Even though government revenue exceeded the revised target for the year, expenditure also exceeded the revised target leading to the end-of-year fiscal deficit of 11.7% of GDP.

"One of the most alarming aspects of our macroeconomic situation is the debt crisis.

"As of the end of 2020, total public debt reached GHC 291.6 billion representing 76.1% of GDP, Jonah said, adding: “A nominal increase of about GHC 149.3 Billion since January 2017."

In 2018, he noted "the debt-to-GDP ratio was 59.1%, increased to 62.4% in 2019 and to 76.1% in 2020.

"New bonds have since been issued. The domestic debt component is 51.4% of total debt while external debt is 48.6%."

"Of course, we all know the effect this has on access to credit by the private sector for investment. But the bigger question is how all these debts are going to be repaid," Sam Jonah added.