As though Ghana’s economic woes were not chiefly caused by unsustainable debt levels amassed by the Akufo-Addo administration, the first economic prescription given by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is for Ghana to go for a US$ 1 billion loan.
When the team from the IMF met with the Finance Committee of Ghana’s Parliament this week, they ordered the lawmakers to approve a $1bn loan that they had been reluctant in taking.
According to the IMF team led by is Carlo Sdralevich, their rather questionable prescription was to prevent the Ghanaian economy from grinding to a halt.
The team met the Finance Committee of Parliament on Tuesday, July 12 as part of its initial discussions with the government for a potential programme.
Mr. Sdralevich in a statement explaining his team’s task after being invited by the clearly incompetent government of President Akufo-Addo to help midwife its economy from collapse, said detailed discussions are yet to commence.
“We are at an early stage in the process, given that detailed discussions are yet to take place. The IMF stands ready to assist Ghana to restore macroeconomic stability, safeguard debt sustainability, and promote inclusive and sustainable growth, and address the impact of the war in Ukraine and the lingering pandemic.”
Already, the IMF is giving indications that the grossly wasteful social policies such as Free Senior High School (SHS) and the various allowances to tertiary institution students would be hacked off as part of what it envisages would help Ghana proper manage its expenditure.
The IMF’s tone is already triggering concerns among critics, who cite the failure of the Bretton Woods institution to provide any sustainable economic independence to Ghana in all the 16 times that the country had run to it for economic reprieve.
The Socialist Movement of Ghana (SFG), an association of activists for socialism says it is joining other groups, to reject the bailout that the Akufo-Addo government is seeking from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because it is a mere charade that has been perpetrated for over 30 years now with little positive outcomes.
In a statement, the Movement predicted that the bailout will fail to address the problems of Ghana’s economy, citing some 16 previous IMF programs that it says have all failed.
It pointed out that in the past 30 years, the IMF has implemented programs including the Economic Recovery and Structural Adjustment (SAP) programmes which have failed to address the crippling conditions imposed on the working people.
“The SMG’s expectation from the engagement with the IMF is not optimistic. This is in view of the fact that Ghana has had at least 16 such engagements with the fund and none of them led to a revamping of the national economy. Indeed, all these engagements have contributed significantly to a worsening of the plight of the working people. There is also no evidence which suggests that any country anywhere in the world has managed to improve its economic fortunes as a result of the implementation of measures under the marching orders of the Bretton Woods Institutions,” reads the statement signed by the SMG General Secretary, Kwesi Pratt Jr.
Source: whatsupnewsghana