Founder of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensa Otabil is urging Ghanaians to remain steadfast in the face of the challenging economic hardships.
He said it was about time Christians quickened the Godly spirit in them to navigate round what seems to be the hopeless situation in the country.
The Ghana cedi last week reached the GH¢12 to the dollar mark within just a week, selling at ¢12.10 at most forex bureaus or the retail market.
Delivering a sermon on the theme: The Spirit Man, the Man of God admonished Christians to be unfazed by the economic situation.
He said “The body is an empty vessel, it weakens but within the weakness of the body, you have a treasure and this treasure is the spirit that God gave you.”
Pastor Mensa Otabil stated: “We are hard pressed on every side but not crashed, life is hard but I am not crushed, I am hard pressed but that is not my end…We are perplexed but not in despair”.
For this reason Pastor Mensa Otabil noted: “The cedi is perplexing us but because I have the spirit in my earthly vessel, I am not in despair, I will overcome this one too; I will win over this one too, because I have the spirit in me, I feel it in my body that I am coming out victorious that’s how Paul allowed the spirit in him to conquer the flesh…”
Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has assured that it will fast track processes with the Government of Ghana to provide support for the country through an economic programme.
The Head of the African Department, Abebe Selassie announced this during the release of the African Economic Outlook Report in Washington DC on the sidelines of the Annual IMF/World Bank meetings.
Reiterating IMF’s commitment to working with Ghana, Mr. Selassie stated that the Fund put together a mission immediately after Ghana made a request for support.
“I can tell that we are doing our best, and will do our utmost to ensure that we can provide support for Ghana as quickly as possible”, he said.
“We will do our best to avoid any delays when it comes to Ghana’s programme”, he added.
Mr. Selassie stated that an important part of the IMF engagement with Ghana will be providing funding to help the country.
He, however added that there are conditionalities which may require a country to restructure its debt if it reaches unsustainable levels.
Providing some details, Mr. Selassie explained that part of the work ongoing with Ghana is to assess Ghana’s debt situation through the Debt Sustainability Analysis.
He noted that the funding, will come with some very important reforms that should be undertaken by the government.
Mr. Selassie pointed out that Ghana will have to take the lead, to receive responses and support from the IMF.
“Government of Ghana has also shared its key reform plans with the IMF on the proposed economic programme for financial support”, Mr. Selassie disclosed
“We have now agreed on a road map on the Government of Ghana’s key reform plans on how things should happen going forward”, he added.
Mr. Selassie stated that both parties are making good progress on the Economic Programme for Ghana.
On debt issues, he stated that it is very important to clarify that countries with unsustainable levels must be assisted to ultimately help its citizens.
“Much will however be dependent on how this economic plan from the government can be fleshed out and work on it for Ghana programmes”, he said.
Government is hoping to enter a progamme with the IMF before the 2023 budget is presented in November 2022.
Source mypublisher24.com