The Ministry of Finance has dismissed claims that the government has defaulted on its financial obligations, insisting that all scheduled payments due to various stakeholders have been honoured.
Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Theo Acheampong, said the government has maintained its commitment to meeting its payment responsibilities despite concerns raised about the country’s fiscal situation.
He explained that government’s financial management systems remain operational and that there has been no failure to settle any of its obligations.
According to him, if government’s revenue position was a challenge, it would have struggled to meet its debt obligations or considered returning to the capital market to raise additional funds to refinance existing debts.
“The payments have always been and are being made. So if you look again on the payment side and you look at the details, government has not defaulted on any of its payment, whether it’s to pay bondholders.
“If revenue was an issue, you would struggle to actually pay these bondholders. If revenue was an issue, you probably would have been thinking about going to the capital market to raise more money to refinance that debt.”
Dr. Acheampong further stated that government is meeting its statutory obligations, including compensation payments, procurement of goods and services, as well as other critical expenditures required to keep the economy running.
He noted that while some government spending decisions may have effects that reflect in subsequent quarters or fiscal years, the priority is to begin implementing important interventions and ensure they are executed properly.
“But the important thing is to start and to do and to do them right,” he said.
The comments come amid public discussions about government expenditure, debt management and its ability to sustain payments amid changing economic conditions.
Source: Newspyramid.com
