Ghana’s President-elect, John Dramani Mahama, has emphasized that his administration will prioritize macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability as key focus areas.
Speaking in an interview with VOA’s Paul Ndiho on Saturday December 14, Mahama highlighted the critical importance of the economy, noting that its condition affects all sectors, including education, agriculture, and sports.
“The economy is going to be the number one focus because it affects everything else. If the economy is in a bad way it affects education, it affects agriculture, it affects sports, every sector of the country. So we are going to have to be dealing with stabilizing the economy,” Mahama stated.
Mahama pointed out that Ghana faces two major issues: macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability. Unlike previous engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which focused solely on macroeconomic stability, the current situation requires addressing both challenges simultaneously.
“In all the other times that we’ve gone to the IMF it’s just been for macroeconomic stability but we have twin problems and so we are going to continue the IMF programme,” he explained.
The President-elect also said that discussions with the IMF have been requested to ensure alignment in implementing the programme.
“We’ve requested some discussion with the IMF because we were part of the negotiation of this programme and so we need to look at how we can all be on the same wavelength in terms of implementing the programme. We are not going to jettison the programme.
“I want to make that clear. We are not jettisoning the programme but within the programme, I am sure that there can be some leverage for tweaking it. So if we are able to reach that agreement then we continue the programme till it ends,” Mahama added.