In spite of the strict instruction by President Akufo-Addo for Ghana to initiate bail-out talks with the International Monitory Fund (IMF) to salvage the mess he has driven the economy into, his failed cousin, the Finance Minister has no intention to engage the IMF delegation which is expected in the country tomorrow.
Whatsup News has confirmed Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is reportedly angry at the move and would be flying out of Ghana today with a team to Saudi Arabia with a US$ 7 billion loan on his wish list, instead of the IMF programme that will require strict scrutiny.
According to our reliable sources, a crunch cabinet meeting held at the Peduase Presidential Lodge in Aburi on the weekend prior to the President’s IMF order, ended in a heated debate between the Akufo-Addo-backed proponents of the IMF option and Ken Ofori-Atta who reportedly insists IMF was not an option and disclosed his intention to fall on Saudi Arabia to secure a staggering US$7bn loan.
Government officials have disclosed that it took the Bank of Ghana’s presentation to awake President AkufoA-ddo to the reality of how terrible things have come concerning the state of the economy.
It has become so bad that the Finance Minister had to force the Apex bank to dubiously cough a whooping Ten billion dollars ($10BN) before it could settle matured bonds. while payments to statutory funds are in areas, workers’ salaries are under threats while inflation gallops amidst horrific debt portfolio.
Whatsup News gathered that following the Peduase meeting, the Jubilee House had planned to announce the government’s shameful decision to seek a fiscal bailout from the IMF on Monday, June 27, 2022, but because of the heated disagreement at Peduase Lodge, the announcement was delayed till Thursday.
Even at that, Ofori-Atta refused to cooperate, forcing the Jubilee House to order Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information to break the bad news that has sent angry ripples throughout the country.
“The President of the Republic, Nanan Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo has authorised Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta to commence formal engagements with the International M,onitory Fund (IMF)…”
Ofori-Atta is said to be banking on hopes that Saudi Arabia’s recent benevolence towards Egypt, which is also facing economic difficulties and has been contemplating seeking IMF’s assistance, could be extended to Ghana.
Cooperation between Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Egypt’s sovereign fund will involve measures to attract $10 billion in investments, the cabinet statement quoted Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly as saying.
This is aside other financial assistance extended to Egypt by Saudi Arabia.
Critics are however, reading other meanings into the motivations of Ken Ofori-Atta.
Ken Ofori-Atta has dubiously inserted his private company, Databank Financial Services as a clearinghouse of the government’s financial transactions for his personal gain.
His company is inexplicably appointed as a so-called bond market specialist which brokers all the foreign bonds of Ghana in return for juicy commissions.
Ken Ofori-Atta has been fingered for using his greed and blatant state capture to drive Ghana’s debt levels to extremely unsustainable levels.
The country’s debt-to-GDP is currently above 80%, creating a gloomy economic prospect for the country and forcing the country into the arms of the dreaded IMF.
Interestingly, the Akufo Addo administration had vowed strongly not to seek a bailout from the IMF again, especially when the country completed its last programme in 2018, causing Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta to organise a ridiculous “Kenkey Party” to celebrate that achievement at the time.
Indeed, Ken Ofori-Atta, just a few weeks ago had reiterated the Akufo Addo’s government’s aversion to suggestions for an IMF option in the face of the collapse of the Ghanaian economy.
“We will not go to the IMF…we are a proud people,” Ofori-Atta blurted out at a recent event.
But the damning economic collapse supervised by the Akufo Addo administration that has given Ghanaians high hopes has forced the administration to eat back their words.
Source: whatsupnewsghana