An economist at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Prof Charles Godfred Ackah, has waded into conversations surrounding the decision by the Akufo-Addo-led-government to seek an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
According to the former director of the Center for Social Policy Studies, running to the IMF is not the solution to Ghana’s economic woes.
“We didn’t need to go to IMF, but unfortunately we find ourselves there, but there is still a growing domestic solution for us,” he suggested on 2 July 2022.
“Our problems can be solved internally, we need to have a long-term plan for our country, establish ways of creating employment for the teeming youth, build good roads, subsidize the economy, and it is the role of the government to raise revenue to finance this,” he said in a discussion on Joy News.
The government is scheduled to engage the IMF to provide support for a programme to reverse the economic challenges faced by the country, Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has revealed.
Ghana’s economy is faced with high debt, low revenue, rising inflation, steep depreciation of the cedi against other major currencies and a general rise in the cost of living attributed to external factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The introduction of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) was one of the homegrown policies adopted by the government to save dwindling revenues but a leading member of the governing party Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko revealed a few days ago that it had not met the target.
The government had indicated that it wasn’t considering a programme from the Bretton Wood institution after 16 bailouts from past governments.
However, after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, 30 June 2022, President Akufo-Addo has given the green light for interactions to commence.
“The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has authorized Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to commence formal engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), inviting the Fund to support an economic program put together by the Government of Ghana.”