The Deputy Minister for Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has accused Dr. Gideon Boako, economic advisor to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, of presenting inaccurate and misleading debt data during the debate on the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review.
Addressing Parliament during the conclusion of the debate, Mr. Nyarko Ampem said Dr. Boako attempted to discredit the government’s reported fiscal progress by quoting the wrong public debt figure for November 2022.
“Mr. Speaker, Hon. Gideon Boako, an advisor to the former Vice President, provided some wrong debt figures in his submission to suggest that the negative 15.6% debt accumulation is not novel,” the Deputy Minister stated.
He explained that Dr. Boako had claimed Ghana’s public debt stock as of November 2022 stood at GH₵382.7 billion. However, Mr. Nyarko Ampem said the figure was inaccurate.
“Mr. Speaker, for the record, the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data published in May 2023 shows that the debt stock as of November 2022 was GH₵575.7 billion, and not the GH₵382.7 billion quoted by the Honourable Member,” he said.
The Deputy Minister’s correction was part of a broader push by the Finance Ministry to challenge what it sees as opposition attempts to distort economic data for political gain.
He emphasized the need to rely on accurate, verified data — especially from official sources such as the Bank of Ghana — in all fiscal policy discussions.
Dr. Boako had used the disputed figure to argue that the government’s achievement of a negative 15.6% debt accumulation rate was not unprecedented.
But Mr. Nyarko Ampem said the baseline figure used in that analysis was significantly understated.
Source: Finance Ministry
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