Give no attention to ‘hypocritical’ propaganda against Africa – John Kuma on Moody’s ratings

Deputy Finance Minister Dr John Ampontuah Kumah has described Moody’s downgrade of Ghana’s credit rating as “hypocritical” propaganda against African countries.

He said Ghana was only downgraded because it exceeded its expenditure projection which was due to the unplanned spending it incurred to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a myjoyonline report.

“Which country in the world has not overspent because of Covid? It is just hypocritical, and I don’t think we should give attention to this kind of hypocritical propaganda against African countries…

“…On January 22, they appointed the lead Ghana analyst, one Villa Lucie, who has never travelled to Ghana before. So, you sit before your desktop and look at your documents and downgrade a country without physically engaging the people?” he is reported to have said.

Moody’s on February 4, 2022, downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Issuer and Senior Unsecured Bond Ratings to Caa1 from B3 and changed the outlook from negative to stable.

This means that Ghana is at a high risk of not being able to pay back funds it borrows through bonds on the international market.

The government, in a statement issued by the Finance Ministry on February 6, 2022, said it appealed the downgrade of Ghana’s credit rating by Moody’s but its appeal was rejected.

It explained that the appeal was due to “the omission of key material information from the assumptions driving some of Moody’s forecasts and projections such as the 2022 budget expenditure control measures, 2022 upfront fiscal adjustments, and inaccurate balance of payment statistics.”

The government added that Moody’s conclusions on Ghana’s Environmental, Social and Governance credentials (ESG) were made without any supporting data.