Rising public spending remains a major threat to efforts to stabilise the economy and improve standard of living, says the Institute of Social, Social and Economic Research (ISSER).

ISSER's assessment was contained in its latest publication “State of Ghanaian Economy in 2015”.  

Director of the institute, Professor Felix Asante, says a lot needs to be done if government wants to prevent a recession.

“We know we are in a political season and certain things go off board, but we are trying to caution the government of the day to restrain from excessive expenditures because that is the fundamental cause of the all the problems that we have,” Prof Asante told Joy Business.

He has urged government to broaden up the tax space to strengthen the country’s finances.

He said the economy is still fragile, sick and exposed to external shock that could affect efforts to stabilize it.

“We keep on talking about the high debt-to-GDP ratio. We know that the government is making an effort but it is still high,” he said.

The country’s public debts has hit 110 billion Ghana cedis as at June this year, representing about 66 percent to GDP, a figure some critics say signals trouble for the country.