‘Ghana will not be beggar nation under CPP’

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) has said the acceptance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) policy prescription by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government is a proof that the party is not an Nkrumaist party.

According to the CPP, the NDC is a neo-liberal party like the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with a development perspective of structural adjustment.

A statement from the Political Committee of the CPP said unlike the NDC and the NPP, the CPP had a development policy option not to pile up debts for consumption by the utilisation of credit for balance of payment and exchange rate support only to return to the IMF with a  begging bowl for the next round of support.

The statement signed by Mr Ekow Duncan, Chairman of the CPP Political Committee, said Ghana would not be a beggar nation under a CPP government.

Policy prescription

It explained that the CPP development policy prescription was  to retain control and own the  development process,  which is the use of  monetary sovereignty by borrowing from  the central bank to finance investments in the productive sector of the economy to address the causes of the deficits that caused instability. 

‘’The CPP, however, will utilise the loan for the development of domestic resources to create jobs as well as in export expansion and import substitution production as a long-term solution to the deficits that lead to inflation and depreciation of currency,’’ the CPP pointed out.

 In the view of the CPP, the  government had been less than candid with the nation on the question of IMF’s involvement with the economy and its development capability and relevance.

It said now that the drama of IMF bailout negotiations had ended and the IMF had lent to Ghana an amount below $1billion,  spread over three years, Ghanaians ought to know the truth surrounding  the loan.

The truth of the matter, according to the CPP, is that  the IMF representative in Ghana  is  the de facto minister of Finance and Economic Planning.

Parameters

The CPP statement disclosed  that it was the IMF representative who issued the parameters of the  macroeconomic management policy as the conditions for the granting of the loan.

These parameters, the CPP said,  would be monitored and supervised by the IMF to ensure compliance.

 The statement also described the  minister of Finance and Economic Planning as the de facto public relations and spin doctor of the IMF, saying, “The  minister of finance now  has the responsibility to sell the project to docile and gullible Ghanaians to ensure that we do not behave like the Greeks.”

According to the CPP statement, the finance minister adroitly span yarns of half truths such as the fact that Ghana was  only exercising her right as a member of the IMF by asking first for “technical assistance” and as it turned out, a financial one too.

The CPP said the finance minister did not disclose that  membership of the IMF was not a democratic one because ‘’we are not admitted to its Governing Council and no Ghanaian would ever be democratically appointed or elected as managing director of the IMF.”

Managing Director

“The truth is that the  position of managing director  of IMF is reserved for citizens of Europe just as the managing director of its sister organisation, the World Bank, is the preserve of citizens of the United States of America.” 

“The responsible Finance and Economic Planning Minister of our sovereign nation did not disclose that our nation does not contribute to the IMF loan portfolio and is, therefore, not a partaker of profits from earned interests of the IMF,’’ the statement said.

 It  explained that  the policy objective of the IMF loan to Ghana was to prioritise interest payments above social services expenditure.

The CPP, therefore, wondering  if  the IMF policy measure was meant  for fiscal consolidation and stability, asked why the government should borrow to support the exchange rate and balance of payment  and not for investments in the productive sector.

Balance of payment

According to the statement, the utilisation of the loan as balance of payment and exchange rate support was to complement  the liberalisation of the trade and financial markets to facilitate capital flows and imports.

 The policy prescription ,therefore, is  a component of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the intent to sustain cheap imports at the expense of domestic production, the party stressed.

‘’The IMF bailout conditions are, therefore, incompatible with promotion and protection of domestic manufacturing and the industrialisation of our economy and, therefore, a cause of unemployment in the economy,’’ the party stressed.

According to the CPP, the history of IMF interventions is that it is recurrent and designed to be so because the policy prescription of austerity is the structure for an expropriation of the financial and capital resources of Africa and under-developed economies.

 It explained that it was  a process for the impoverishment of these economies where increasing public debt was used as a means for the transfer of public wealth to private wealth through interest payments to those who lent to governments.  - END OF STORY