A renowned Ghanaian economist, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has asked the government to account for the $1billion Eurobond it issued recently.
In September, Ghana issued US$1 billion Eurobond, five days before talks began with the International Monetary Fund for a possible financial bailout.
Ghana’s Finance Minister, Seth Terkper said that a bigger chunk of the cash raised would be used to develop infrastructure.
But two months down the lane, Dr Bawumia challenged the government to “list projects [undertaken with the fund] for all to see, since they were missing in the 2015 budget, read last week.”
Dr Bawumia who is also the 2016 Vice Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) believes the “$1 billion raised on the money market has been used to do nothing more than to artificially shore up the cedi from depreciating against major currencies.”
Addressing a group of UK-based Ghanaian professionals at a breakfast meeting in London , the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana disclosed, “We are reliably informed that the $1 billion raised from the sovereign bond has been used to reduce government’s indebtedness at the Central Bank and that the funds are not available anymore for the purpose for which it was raised.”
He challenged the Finance Minister to show to Ghanaians that he used the $1 billion for the purpose the bond was issued “In the prospectus that sought to convince investors the Minister of Finance indicated that a substantial portion of the amount borrowed would be used for infrastructure development and critical projects.
What projects did the Minister of Finance have in mind?” Calling for details, Dr Bawumia queried. “The Minister should list and provide a detailed plan of what projects he has in mind.”
African Eye News.com
