NPP Vice-Presidential candidate, Mahamadu Bawumia says although Ghana is no longer described as a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) we are now a Highly Indebted Middle-Income Country (HIMIC) because of the NDC’s recklessness, incompetence and sanctioned corruption.

At a Distinguished Speaker series lecture organised at the Central University College on Tuesday, Bawumia says Ghana is in an economic crisis because NDC wanted to win the 2012 elections.

According to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, four years after Ghana was once described as an “Africa rising story”, the country is now in dire need of an IMF bail-out of $940m.

Presenting his facts, Bawumia noted that between 2001 and 2008, Ghana’s GDP quadrupled.

He said Ghana also received $4.2bn in debt-relief after completing the unpopular Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) programme.

With the discovery of oil in 2007, there was international confidence that Ghana was ready to take off, he went on.

Indeed, Ghana did take off after it recorded a 15% growth in the economy to become one of the fastest growing economies.

However, come an election year in 2012, Ghana’s fiscal indiscipline was unleashed; recording a budget deficit of 8.7billion or 12% of GDP - a record in Ghana's economic history.

Government spending increased to 31% of GDP although revenue had increased by only 18.1% leading to deterioration in public financing.

Bawumia says Ghana can no longer return to HIPC for debt relief but is now a 'HIMIC' country, a coinage of his own.

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