Govt-IMF deal: Our advice was ignored - Minority

The Minority in Parliament has said it  advised the government to seek an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout in 2021 but the government ignored its advice.

According to the Minority, if the government had listened to wise counsel things would not have deteriorated to the current state. 

“We wish to state for the records that when the government finally decided on July 4, 2022 (11 months ago) to seek an IMF bailout, we in the Minority were clear in our minds that this government had long missed every golden opportunity it was presented with to salvage the economy which it has so grossly mismanaged since coming into office in 2017,” it said.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, in response to the IMF Executive Board approval of Ghana’s request for an extended credit facility of $3 billion.

“Having secured a Board approval, the Ghanaian people look forward to the Board document on the true state of Ghana's economy in the coming days. This report will outline the full details of the bargain between the Fund and the government, in terms of our Debt Sustainability Analysis, Performance Criteria, Structural Benchmarks and the gamut of other conditionalities that have been agreed upon,” it said.

“The Minority in Parliament will, in the coming days ,address Ghanaians on the contents of this report and what this IMF deal portends for all of us going forward,” the statement added.

The Minority in Parliament commended the tolerance of the Ghanaian bondholders who had taken haircuts on their investment and returns, the pensioners who have so far been denied payment of maturing coupons on their investments and Ghanaians, both young and old, who have so far endured various painful sacrifices such as a turbulent economy, rising cost of living and anxiety over how to afford the basic needs of life. 

“Suffice it to say, that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, as part of their proposal to the IMF to secure this deal, has agreed to increase utility tariffs every three months from last year. So far, since September 2022, electricity tariff has gone up by a cumulative figure of 75.32 per cent (27 per cent in September 2022, 29.96 per cent in the last quarter of 2022 and 18.36 per cent a few days ago,” the statement said.

“Let us brace ourselves for the full consequences of this IMF deal, which will without doubt bite hard on Ghanaians, especially the youth. This is not a counsel of despair but a reality that will soon dawn on all of us,” it stated.