The Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, John Boadu has said the ruling National Democratic Congress [NDC] is presently enjoying inflows from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries [HIPC] initiative.
Speaking on Multi TV�s political talk show, Minority Caucus, Mr. Boadu said the NDC has consistently criticised the Kufuor administration for its decision to opt for HIPC but since it assumed power two years ago, the NDC has been receiving inflows from the HIPC programme.
�The NDC government last year got GH�298 million from HIPC inflows. This year [it has received] GH� 313 million from HIPC inflows� he noted.
Quoting sections of the 2000 budget statement, Mr. Boadu said President Mills also contributed to the economic woes of the country.
�It was the NDC that went and made an agreement with the World Bank. Let me quote the year 2000 budget statement read by Kwame Peprah, paragraph 329 page 81. �Ghana has also taken on board the IMF and World Bank�s new lending programme which seeks to replace the enhanced structural adjustment facility with a poverty focused Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme [PRSP]. His Excellency, the Vice President underscored this commitment at the Libreville-Gabon conference of the African heads of state where he stated that the PRSP should become the single document on which all donors should focus and channel their assistance.�
He added �this is HIPC that His Excellency the Vice President then and now our dear President went and agreed on. They created an impression as if it is a bad thing we�ve taken over, that we�ve sold the destiny of this country. At the end of the day, they come back to accuse the New Patriotic Party of going HIPC and enjoying the fruits that come from HIPC�.
According to Mr. Boadu, �if you look at the total programme of the NPP, for the entire 8-year period, we did not burden one Ghanaian with one cent of debt, considering the debt we inherited, considering the reserves we inherited, considering the debt we left and considering the reserves we left for the people of this country. We are not going down the hill and nothing is showing for the massive debt [of] almost about 100 trillion just within two and a half years and that is dangerous�.
Comparing the economy the NPP inherited to what they left behind when exiting office in 2008, Mr. Boadu said the NPP inherited an economy which was barely less than GH�4 billion. The total Gross Domestic Product [GDP] of the economy at the time of their ascent to power he noted was �less than the departmental expenditure of Harvard university.�
He noted that the economy by the year 2000 had inflation at 40.5% with interest rate hovering about 50% and the cedi also depreciating in value to about 50%. �You have an economy that the public debt was 7.43 billion representing 189% of the GDP of this country� he added.
He however noted that within the first 2 years of the NPP administration, �we increased the reserve by over 250%. The cedi had depreciated over the period - to the extent that even within one year it depreciated by over 40% - depreciated by only 2.1%.�
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