A Financial Analyst, Mr Joe
Jackson has said that going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will
not stop the sufferings of Ghanaians as far as the economic challenges are
concerned.
Sharing
his views on the decision by the government to go to the IMF, while speaking on
the News 360 on TV3 Friday July 1, he said that “I
expect that going into this programme there will be parts of the programme to
mitigate the worst part. But still, it wont stop us from suffering a lot of
pain. In any case, going to the IMF is not a get-out-of jail card.”
Former
Finance Minister Mr Seth Terkper has also asked stakeholders to focus on the
kind of proposal that the government will be submitting to the IMF..
This
follows the instruction given to the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to
commence engagements with the Fund.
Mr
Terkper indicated that the engagement is not going to happen overnight.
It
will take quite sometime before conclusions are made, he said.
“The
Funds were clearly there and that is when we probably we could have gone
earlier. I think that it is important to know that we are where we are and
therefore we can focus on the proposal that government will be giving to the
Fund. It is not a one week thing, government will definitely may have to make
proposals,” he told Paa Kwesi Asare on the News 360 on TV3 Friday
July 1.
In
the view of Mr Terkper, the decision to go to the Fund could have been made
much earlier.
“I
do agree with the sentiments that we could probably, have gone to the Fund much
earlier and the situation would not have worsened,” he said.
Analysts
have been expressing their views on the decision by the government.
For
instance, the Dean of the Business School at the University of Cape Coast,
Professor John Gatsi said that the decision to return to the Fund is an
indication that the programmes and measures outlined by the government to deal
with the economic challenges were not strong enough.
It
also means that the management of the economy has been difficult for the
government, he added.
Speaking
in an interview with TV3’s Komla Adom on the mid day news Friday July 1, Prof
Gatsi said “The decision is clear to all of us that Ghana is heading towards
the IMF, officially from the President and then authenticated by Minister
responsible for Information.
“It
has implications, the implication is that the management of the economy has
become very difficult, our programmes are not potent enough to deal with the
challenges therefore we need credibility for our programmes, we need confidence
to manage our economy and that confidence is not coming from the programmes and
strategies of the government and that, the government believes that confidence
to manage the economy can be procured from the IMF.”
President Akufo-Addo gave the instruction to Mr Ofori-Atta to
commence the engagements with the IMF on Friday July 1 following a
telephone conversation between the President and the IMF Managing Director,
Miss Kristalina Georgieva, conveying Ghana’s decision to engage with the Fund.
Source:3news