Ghana’s former Finance Minister says the country still needs IMF to deal with its current economic crisis

He has projected that a complete breakup between Ghana and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could cause serious economic problems for the country.

In an interview, the former finance minister revealed that the government should consider staying under the check of the international body although its programme with the IMF is gradually drawing to a conclusion.

This according to Mr Terkper was because the IMF was established to solve problems that Ghana is currently facing economically.

He said, “what we are facing now is the precise moment the IMF comes and provides foreign exchange, and we may be losing that opportunity,” adding that, “even if the government wants to exit the programme at the end of March, they should not exit completely.”

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has made it known that Ghana’s IMF programme which is expected to end in April 2019 will not be extended because the government has imposed on itself a lot of fiscal discipline measures to prevent a return to the IMF.

Background

The current IMF programme was entered into by the erstwhile John Mahama administration when Seth Terkper was Finance Minister.

The deal concluded with funding support of $918 million to be disbursed to Ghana under eight tranches.

Some key issues of the credit facility included the freezing of public sector employment, reducing the budget deficit and zero financing of the budget deficit by the Bank of Ghana.

Ghana’s former Finance Minister says the country still needs IMF to deal with its current economic crisis

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