Debt financing hurting Ghana’s economy – Afriyie Akoto

He said the cause of the extreme hardship Ghanaians are experiencing at the moment is the result of the country’s continuous reliance on external and internal borrowing which leaves them with nothing but compounded debt that always comes back to haunt the citizenry.

In an interview with Starr FM on Thursday, October 12, 2023, the former Minister of Food and Agriculture said the use of debt financing has never been good for Ghana, underscoring the need for a policy shift.

He noted that Ghana has it all in terms of the gift of natural resources but what the country lacks is a bold and courageous leadership that will take the initiative to implement homegrown policies embedded in its agricultural policy diversification to achieve the much-needed economic independence.

The Cambridge-trained Economist said that for Ghana to wean itself from the shackles of economic bondage, its reliance on borrowing must cease since it is unsustainable and adopt pragmatic local economic policy that hinges on agriculture for development.

He said Ghana needs a policy shift and for that matter, an economic policy that will make the country focus and invest in agriculture which has shown so much prospects in providing the needed jobs for the teeming youth.

That is what I intend to do because in the six years that I have been in the ministry, I have seen that with the least incentives to farmers, their responses have been incredible

Farmers in the six years that I have worked with them have proven that indeed they can deliver”, noted the former two-term Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso Constituency in the Ashanti Region.