Ghana Leader Favors Constitutional Change to Boost Finances

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said he is in favor of changes to the West African country’s constitution that will allow lawmakers better oversight over public finances.

Akufo-Addo, whose National Patriotic Party came into power in January in the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer, is battling rising public debt following a discovery of about 7 billion cedis ($1.6 billion) in unplanned spending by the previous administration of President John Mahama. The new government is also seeking better terms under a three-year $918 million bailout package that the country agreed to in April 2015 with the International Monetary Fund, according to a person familiar.