President Akufo-Addo will today February 20, 2020, in Parliament deliver the State of the Nation Address, SONA.
This will be his fourth address to the nation since he assumed office as President of the Republic.
The State of the Nation Address will be expected to focus on key areas of the economy, the gains made so far and steps taken to address some issues confronting the country.
Key among them will be how the government's effort has helped solve the issue of illegal mining popularly known as galamsey. The performance of the economy, the energy sector, health, sanitation, the road sector among others. Â
Akufo-Addo has kept his promise of reducing the rate of borrowing - Bawumia
Dr. Bawumia said President Akufo-Addo has kept his promise of reducing the country's rate of borrowing as compared to the previous NDC administration.
Speaking at a town hall meeting in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region to account for the various campaign promises made to the people of Ghana, Dr. Bawumia said better economic management and fiscal discipline has put the economy of Ghana on the right path.
Addressing issues of the country's total debt stock which has hit 214.9 billion as of November 2019, Dr. Bawumia explained that during their three years in office the country's debt stock increased by 79 percent as compared to the 247 percent from 2012 to 2016. With his calculation, the debt stock which also included the banking sector cleanup would have been at 203 billion cedis without the banking sector cleanup cost.
He strongly attributed the success to a positive primary balance and fiscal discipline in the economy.
"Let us look at what has happened to the debt as a result of this fiscal discipline that we have imposed on yourselves in achieving the positive primary balance. The total public debt has increased from 122 billion Cedis in 2016 to 214.9 billion in 2019 that is 9.3 percent of GDP at the end of November 2019, but this includes the cost of the banking sector cleanup which you know is over 13 billion Cedis and counting, excluding the cost of the banking sector cleanup the debt stock stands at 203 billion cedis however if you look at these debt dynamics the strong physical adjustment that has taken place and better debt management has meant that the rate of debt accumulation has slowed down considerably to the lowest in a decade. Between 2008 and 2012 Ghana debt stock increase by 267%, between 2012 and 2016 Ghana debt stock increase by another 247% but between 2017 and 2019 the increase has been by 79 percent so there is a big difference."