The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has revealed that the Akufo-Addo government is already implementing the measures that the IMF is likely to bring forward if the country decides to seek for an intervention. Apexnewsgh.com report
According to former President John Dramani Mahama, the Akufo-Addo government should organize a national economic forum as an antecedent to returning to the IMF.
Meanwhile, responding at a Press Conference organized in Accra on Wednesday, 9 February 2022, the Communications Director of the governing NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoah condemned Mr. Mahama’s pronouncement.
According to Mr. Asamoah, the former President John Dramani is castigating the government for not having a plan for fiscal consolidation that development partners will buy into, “but he says this without realizing that the development community have accepted the cost-cutting measures of 20percent in expenditure and E-Levy as the building block of our recovery”.
“So, where is the lack of plan that he is mentioning, usually his focus is three things, increasing revenue internally, cutting waste and managing debt, these are the three prescriptions the IMF proposes,” Mr. Buaben Asamoa pointed.
“So, at this stage for the former president to insist that we should go to a Senchi-like event where we will then march off to the IMF for relief, it doesn’t really work, we are already implementing the measures that the IMF is likely to bring forward.”
“Having gone to the IMF and we are now struggling to fund roads including in the cities, we can’t go back to that and we will not go back to that because we have a positive relationship with the IMF already in terms of Article 4 consultation that we do annually, in our last Article 4 consultation the IMF stated clearly how we have dealt with COVID.”
Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen
