A professor at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Professor Lord Mensah has disclosed that the deal Ghana is seeking with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will certainly come along with pains.
Speaking during an interview on Wednesday, April 12, Prof Mensah averred that it is quite a complex situation looking at what is happening and the conditions that have been given to Ghana, contingent on the debt restructuring.
“It will come with pains, but we will take the pain and we hope there will be a reward to that pain.”
Professor Lord Mensah
Prof Mensah further told the government to stop giving timelines relative to the deal.
According to him, when timelines are given and failed, it creates mistrust and doubts in the minds of the people.
It is recalled that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo assured that Ghana was going to secure a deal with the Fund by end of March. However, that timeline failed.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta also stated that the local economy would fail if the deal was not closed by March.
But the lecturer said: “Stop giving timelines because you create chaos and uncertainties in the minds of the people.”
Government’s Recklessness Will Make IMF Deal Immaterial To Ghanaians
A private legal practitioner and member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Godwin Edudzi Tameklo has noted that even if Ghana is able to close a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the government’s recklessness will make it immaterial to Ghanaians.
Mr. Tameklo blamed the current economic challenges on the government.
Speaking during an interview, the legal practitioner expressed fear that the government’s conduct may make the deal, even closed, immaterial to Ghanaians.
“The current managers of the economy, to the extent that if they continue the recklessness, nothing will come out of the IMF deal. Why is Dr. Bawumia, the economic messiah not talking? Why is Dr. Bawumia quiet? Why is he no longer delivering the lectures?”
Mr. Godwin Edudzi Tameklo
However, the former Member of Parliament for Tema East, Mr. Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover has expressed hope in Ghana’s economy, stating that: “2023 is the year of economic recovery for the Akufo-Addo administration.”
“The IMF is giving us an opportunity as to how we can raise revenue to pay off our debts.”
Mr. Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover
Meanwhile, the IMF has revised Ghana’s growth downwards in line with concerns that debt pressures and funding constraints would make it difficult for African economies to expand at full potential this year.
The fund cut the country’s growth forecast to 1.6 percent for 2023 this month, down from 2.8 percent in October last year.
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