Former Deputy Information Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has taken a swipe at government for operating above its means.

Ghana's economic downturn has become topical for a while after Moody's downgraded the country's economic ratings.

Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”)  moved Ghana’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to Caa1 from B3 and changed the outlook to stable from negative.

Moody’s said weak revenue generation constrains government’s budget flexibility, adding that its tight funding conditions on international markets have forced the government to rely on costly debt with shorter maturity.

The opposition National Democratic Congress has latched on this, explaining why it is the better option.

Speaking on the AM Show on Tuesday, Felix Kwakye Ofosu said "you can't live a champagne life on an akpeteshie budget. That's essentially what the problem is.

"Every basic economic student knows that in times like this, what you go for are cuts in your expenditure. In areas that are non-essential. But this government has loaded the budget with non-essential spending and is therefore unable to meet the most important expenditure while sacrificing the important ones."

He added that "in 2016, there were elections. We could also have decided to spend beyond our means to win the election. We didn't do that.

"That's the sign that we are a responsible party and that the leaders of the economy were responsive to the needs of the people and didn't do what was unnecessary to win the elections. But this government chose to do what was completely unnecessary to win the elections and today we are here."

When host, Benjamin Akakpo asked what the NDC will do differently, Mr Kwakye Ofosu responded, "first of all, the extravagance will go. Auditor-General has shown that some GHC12 billion has been lost to irregularities. When we were in power, it was GHC780 million.

"Even that is unacceptable. So we would work to reduce that. But we cannot have 12 billion cedis going down the drain annually and you want to tax people. We'd also ensure the corruption that we're witnessing is abated. And our policy prioritisation will focus on what matters to the people. In education, health etc that are absolutely necessary. We'd not engage in fanciful politicking laced on propaganda sloganeering".