Government Changes Stance About Going To IMF, Says Lender Is Now An Option

• The government has said it is considering going to the IMF for a bailout programme as the economic hardships bite
• Deputy Finance Minister John Kumah has said the global money lender would be the best alternative if homegrown solutions fail
• The government had previously ruled out ever going to the IMF partly because it had severely criticised the previous government for seeking a bailout programme

After strongly ruling out going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout programme to shore up Ghana’s dwindling finances, government has revealed it is now considering it.

Deputy Minister of Finance Dr. John Kumah has indicated government is considering IMF as Ghana's economic hardships bite. He said the government will make the decision once it is convinced that it is absolutely important.

He told Joy Business that if bringing the economy back to life with homegrown solutions fails to yield results, then the IMF will be the most plausible next alternative.

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“But where we are now, we think we are in the position to salvage the economy or to try the homegrown policy we are adopting.

"If our programmes fail us and we are not able to get the confidence and the results in the fiscal space discipline, which we have to impose on ourselves, then we don’t have a choice,” John Kumah said.

The deputy finance minister said the decision to go to the Bretton Woods institution should not be politicised. According to him, COVID-19 dealt a heavy blow to the previously robust Ghanaian economy.

“It is not about politics when it comes to the economy. But for COVID-19, there is no way we should be discussing IMF by this time”, he explained.

“When President Akufo Addo picked this economy and started growing it with an average of 7%, we saw how the economy was doing so well,” he stressed.

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Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper was among the loud voices urging the Nana Akufo-Addo government to consider the IMF when Ghana’s economic woes started. But Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta rejected the call. For him and the government that came to power criticitising John Mahama administration for going to the IMF, the global lender was off the table.

However, it seems after high taxes and the E-levy failed, going to the global lender is back on the table.

Nana Akufo-Addo says Ghana’s economy is recovering to pre-Covid levels

Meanwhile, in a previous story YEN.com.gh reported that President Nana Akufo-Addo has assured the global business community that the Ghanaian economy is fast recovering to pre-Covid levels.

The president gave the assurance after he commissioned a GH¢175.4 million Nestlé Ghana’s state-of-the-art plant in Tema on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. The plant will be manufacturing infant cereals for the domestic market, as well as for markets in other countries in Central and West Africa.

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“This investment by a major multinational company does not only underscore the confidence that Nestlé and its shareholders have in the Ghanaian economy, but it is also a signal to the global business community that the Ghanaian economy is recovering to its pre-COVID-19 levels,” Akufo-Addo posted on his Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh