The government of Ghana has reportedly reached out to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the possibility of accessing a bailout programme.
According to business broadcaster with Accra-based Joy News, George Wiafe, the government had initially engaged IMF to receive monetary support as the economy emerges out of the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the Bretton Woods Institution said it could only support the country if it signed on to a $70 billion programme.
“What we understand [from our sources] is that this formal engagement looked at what could be in for us [Ghana] if we should go for a fund programme. Let us put it on record that the government has always been going for several fixes even during the Covid-19 times, they were trying to get some support from the Fund.
“What we are picking up is that this [latest] engagement is linked to having a programme for Ghana. That is why we are following this deeply. It was looking at whether Ghana could have gotten some additional support from the fund in terms of monetary.
“The Fund is also saying the fund that they have available…more than $70 billion, you have to sign up to a programme (so that) you can get that support. That is why we are seeing this engagement going on,” George Wiafe said on the ‘Market Place’ programme on Joy News.
It will be recalled that a leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, dropped hints of a possible IMF programme option available to government on Monday June 27.
In a series of posts on his social media handle, the lawyer lamented that the E-Levy since its passage in May this year had failed to live up to government’s expectation, in terms of delivering needed revenue.
According to him, the tax measure has only managed to deliver on 10% of the estimated revenue target.
While indicating that he is not against an IMF programme in principle, Gabby Otchere-Darko stated that “I am not for an IMF program that throws peanuts at us but imposes conditions that will end up hurting the poor, jobs and businesses more. Covid-19 and War in Ukraine are not of Africa’s doing but more to our doom”.
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