Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has called on the media to hold the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), to hard facts on issues concerning the current state of the economy and government’s decision to seek an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
Reacting in a Facebook post to recent comments by the Managing Director of IMF, 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 observed that 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 NDC must speak to the facts” Richard Ahiagbah wrote on his Facebook wall.
IMF Bailout
In a related development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) boss, Kristalina Georgieva, has stated that a deal between Ghana and the Fund should be reached and finalized before the end of 2022.
At a closed door meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday (5 September) in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 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 said.
She mentioned the 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,” she 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.
Source: Asaase Radio