Richard Ahiagbah, director of communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has emphatically stated that if it weren’t for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, government would not have sought assistance from the IMF.
He said that the Fund would not have intervened to help Ghana if the e-levy had been approved “without the partisan acrimony that attended it.”
In a tweet, Mr Ahiagbah said “The NDC’s view that Ghana should have requested IMF support in 2021, was a piece of poor advice because the economy was showing positive signs of recovery from the Covid-19 slump in 2020, posting a 5.4% GDP at the end of that year.
“Had Russia not invaded Ukraine in 2022, and had the e-levy been passed without the partisan acrimony that attended it, Ghana would not have needed IMF support as we have it today.”
Following Ghana’s acquisition of the Paris Club funding guarantee on Friday, May 12, the Board of the Fund unanimously authorized Ghana’s bailout during a meeting in Washington on May 17 (Wednesday).
According to Stéphane Roudet, the mission chief for Ghana, the $3 billion bailout will lead to changes in the cocoa and energy industries.
Additionally, he said that the initiative would lead to reforms that would promote private-sector investment and increase foreign reserves.
“There will be reforms in the energy and cocoa sectors,” he said during a joint Ghana -IMF press conference in Washington on Thursday, May 18.
“It will be restoring macroeconomic stability, for higher and more inclusive growth. It has reforms that will make the economy more resilient and likely to withstand shock in the future,” he said.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Joseph Asare
