Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Mr. Richard Ahiagbah has called on the media to hold the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to hard facts on issues relating to current state of Ghana’s economy and government’s decision to seek balance of payment support from International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The opposition NDC has been claiming that the Akufo-Addo government is seeking IMF bailout because it has mismanaged the economy and also due to bad policy decisions.
However, in a tweet responding to recent comments by IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, on the sidelines of the Africa Adaptation Summit, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, that Ghana’s current economic challenges are not locally generated but from external shocks and that the factors are exogenous, Mr Ahiagbah said it is time to hold the NDC to the real hard facts about the economy.
“The inability of the NDC to communicate the causes of the economic challenges facing Ghana is evidence that Ghana would have been worse off if they were in charge of the economy because they would have misdiagnosed the problem. The IMF has spoken now and NDC must speak to the facts”, Mr. Ahiagbah wrote in his tweet.
IMF bailout
In a related development, the IMF boss, Kristalina Georgieva, has stated that a deal between Ghana and the Fund should be reached and finalised before the end of 2022.
In a closed door meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Monday, the IMF boss told the Ghanaian leader that “we understand the urgency, and we will move as quickly as possible.”
“We have started very constructive discussions already and to the people of Ghana, like everybody on this planet, you have been hurt by exogenous shocks”, she added.
According to her, it is extraneous factors, which have contributed to Ghana’s economic woes, leading to the West African country seeking a programme from the IMF.
“First the pandemic, then Russia’s war in Ukraine. We need to realize that it is not because of bad policies in the country but because of this combination of shocks, and, therefore, we have to support Ghana”, Kristalina Georgieva said.
She also indicated that Ghana is a member of the IMF, “a strong country with fantastic people”, and as such it is incumbent on the Fund to lend the country support.
Ghana is in talks with the IMF for US$3 billion to help the country navigate through the hostile economic crisis it finds itself in as a result of the adverse effects of the deadly coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
