On Saturday, July 2, 2022, a day after the government announced its intention to engage the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an economic recovery programme, Felix Kwakye Ofosu of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Gabby Otchere-Darko of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) were on Joy FM’s Newsfile programme to discuss the decision.
While touting the economic records of the John Mahama-led NDC administration, Felix Kwakye Ofosu said the administration had allocated about 10.6 billion cedis for the payment of loans contracted by the government of Ghana.
But Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko disagreed and said the NDC had rather made arrangements for GHS 18 billion for debt servicing.
Fact-Check Ghana has verified the claims both Felix Kwakye Ofosu and Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko made and presents the facts below.
Claim 1: “When we left power, our debt to GDP ratio was 57 per cent. We had total debt of 120 billion. Indeed, the highest amount we spent servicing the debt was GH₵10.6 billion Ghana cedis in 2016.,” Felix Kwakye Ofosu said.
Verdict: Misleading
Explanation: While the estimated interest payment is the projection by the government at the beginning of the financial year, the actual interest payment is what is spent on the payment of loans at the end of the financial year. In November 2015, when the annual budget was read by the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, it was estimated that it would cost the state GH₵10.5 billion cedis to service debts the state owed.
However, by the end of the 2016 financial year, the actual interest paid for the year rose above that figure.
The 2017 mid-year budget review by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on July 31, 2017, stated that the actual interest payment by the government of Ghana in 2016 was GH₵ 11.5 billion.
So instead of mentioning the actual figure of GH₵11.5 billion, Felix Kwakye Ofosu used the estimate of GH₵10.5 billion cedis contained in the 2016 budget, which was presented in November 2015.
Appendix Table 2A: Summary of Central Government Operations – 2016. Source: pg 44,, 2017 mid-year budget review by the Minister of Finance.
Putting up a feisty defence, Gabby Otchere-Darko said the NDC government had allocated about 18 billion for the payment of the country’s debt.
Claim 2: “You have seen more money going into roads and debt servicing. I have heard Felix say that when they left office, it was 10 billion. It was not 10 billion. [In] 2016, it was 18 billion [cedis],” Mr Otchere-Darko said.
Verdict: False
Gabby Otchere-Darko’s figure was not contained in the 2016 annual budget of the finance minister nor the 2017 mid-year budget review on July 31, 2017. As can be referenced in the table above, the finance minister of his party’s administration mentioned GH₵ 11.5 billion, and not the GH₵18 billion he claimed on Newsfile.
Thank you for your clarification this what we need from you guys so we can make informed decisions!thank you
Even though Felix mentioned 10bn which was a projected figure the actual was 11.5bn there is nothing misleading about it. Let’s tell the present Govt it has failed and that’s it not this equalization
Good Job
Excellentf, these are facts and clarifications we need to know the truth and avoid listening to these pathological liars. Why allow such people like Gabby Okyere to come and peddle lies to the listening public. They have no shame in stealing us. So they inflate figures in order to hide the differences. God will surely deal with them
I don’t understand why you claim that FKO 10.5 billion cedis he made mention was misleading, and you rather uses the Ken Ofori Atta 2017 mid year budget as your justification, but FKO was using a budget report of 2015.
Did the NDC leave government in November 2015 or January 6, 2017? The amount given in July 2017 captured the total amount spent by year end of 2016. That is correct. You had JM purchasing new cars for the presidency less than 1 month before he left office. All those needed to be rightly credited.