Prof. William Baah-Boateng, head of Economics at the University of Ghana, has asked government to be cautious with plans to float a $50 billion Century Bond.
Prof. Baah-Boateng has advised President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s economic management team to interrogate the proposal exhaustively before firm steps are taken to secure the 100-year loan.
“When we are bringing such [huge] money, at what point are we going to have it? Is it going to take a year [for all the money to come at once] or it is going to be staggered? Because if you have a GDP of $48 billion and you have $50 billion coming in will the economy be able to absorb it?”
“So the President dreamt and it is up to us researchers, policymakers and so on to interrogate it to see how best we can shape that kind of vision to achieve what the President wants. We need to look at it and see how we are going to bring that on board and how and how it is disbursement is going to be –which areas are you going to put this money,” he said.
He made the comments on Joy News current affairs programme, PM Express.
President Akufo-Addo made the revelation about plans to float the Century Bond in China during a ceremony in Beijing to sign co-operation agreements between Ghana and China.
Nana Akufo said “the Ministry of Finance and … economists in Ghana are looking at floating a $50 billion Century Bond. This will provide us with the resources to finance our infrastructural and industrial development.”
The president called on his Chinese counterpart to support the bond if it’s issued saying “we are hoping that, at some stage, China will interest itself, and take a part of it as China’s contribution to Ghana’s development,”
Countries that have floated the bond include Argentina, Austria and Mexico as well as top American companies like Coca Cola, JC Penney, IBM and a host of others.
