The National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to change the Public Financial Management Act to place a limit on how much the nation can borrow from foreign lenders.

While pointing out the lack of openness in the nation's debt management, Mahama stated that the future NDC government will give the Finance Ministry's debt management department autonomy and a mission to release the debt-to-GDP ratio on a quarterly basis.

As part of his Greater Accra regional campaign on Monday, he made this statement while speaking to a group in the Shai-Osudoku constituency at Dodowa.

“There is no transparency in our debt management. The only time we hear how much we owe as Ghanaians is when the Minister of Finance is reading the budget and tells us what our debt-to-GDP is. NDC is going to change that.

"The Finance Ministry's debt management division will become a stand-alone, independent division. It will be called the debt management authority, and its head, who will have independent authority, will release our debt-to-GDP ratios on a quarterly basis.

In addition, we're going to add a section limiting the amount of money a Finance Minister can borrow to the Public Financial Management Act, among other changes. 

Thus, if we reach a consensus that borrowing should not exceed 60% of GDP, this will be codified into the Public Financial Management Act. This would ensure that future finance ministers cannot take out loans at will and burden the young people seated here with debt," he said.