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.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana