Financial Analyst and Banking Consulting, Dr. Richmond Atuahene is pushing for more stringent debt control measures that can avert the debt crises the country experienced in recent years going into the future.
Dr. Atuahene is suggesting that the country must rather put an approved debt limit in the constitution instead of just amending the Fiscal Responsibility Act to include a debt cap.
Speaking at Deloitte’s Economic Forum on Ghana 2025 Budget, Dr. Atuahene says a constitutional debt ceiling will rather offer tighter fiscal controls and curb reckless borrowing.
The financial analyst believes amending the Fiscal Responsibility Act alone to include a debt cap will not be enough as an individual might be able to set it aside and go on a borrowing spree as the country experienced under the previous administration.
This recommendation from Dr. Atuahene comes on the heels of an announcement by the Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson that the government intends to amend the fiscal responsibility act to institute a debt cap and establish an independent fiscal council.
Dr. Ato Forson, who was speaking at the 2025 Post Budget Workshop in parliament indicated that is it the firm belief of the government that such an amendment will ensure a strict fiscal discipline and minimize borrowing.
But Dr. Atuahene maintains that the best approach will be to rather amend the 1992 Constitution of Ghana to entrench a debt cap provision.
Dr. Atuahene’s argument is simple yet profound. He say as long as fiscal limits are determined by an Act of Parliament, they remain vulnerable to political manipulation. Governments can change, suspend, or bypass them at will.
By contrast, a constitutional debt ceiling would serve as a permanent safeguard, ensuring that no single individual, whether a Finance Minister or a President, can unilaterally plunge the nation into unsustainable debt.
“We should put a debt cap and a debt limit in our constitution so that people do not go behind and use fiscal responsibility to create what we are experiencing because the Fiscal Responsibility Act was taken out,” he insisted.
Thankfully, President John Mahama has commissioned a new constitutional review headed by Prof. H. Kwasi Prempeh. Dr. Atuahene says the work of the review committee must include a constitutional debt ceiling to safeguard fiscal discipline.
He expressed his desire for the US model where Congress must approve any increase in borrowing limits.
“The IMF document 24/335/2224, states that the government and the Minister of Finance should ensure that the fiscal responsibility is enhanced and reviewed. I’ll go a step further. Let the constitutional review put a debt cap and a debt limit. In America, anytime you want to go to exceed, you go to Congress and Congress has to approve and not give it to a minister or one person. Because this experience that we’ve had over the last five years should never happen in the next century,” he emphasized.
Ghana’s rising debt levels have been a major source of economic instability, forcing the country into an IMF bailout and driving up the cost of living. Dr. Atuahene believes that without constitutional safeguards, history will repeat itself.
