We never deliberately oppose govt policy – Ato Forson
Decision to go to IMF has nothing to do with domestic economic mgt – Oppong Nkrumah
The Ranking Member of Parliament's Select Committee on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, has insisted that Ghana’s current economic challenges are self-inflicted contrary to assertions by government officials.
According to him, the actions and inactions of the government have devastated Ghana’s economy to the extent that, it has no choice but to seek an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
Ato Forson, who made these remarks while speaking to the press at Parliament on July 6, added that the minority caucus of Parliament will resist any attempt by the government to blame it for the country’s challenges.
“The government has messed us up big time and they should take the responsibility for it. This is indeed self-inflicted and the people who took us through this mess must take responsibility for it.
“… We the minority will never accept the blame, a blame that suggests that we deliberately rejected government policy. We rejected government policy for the people of Ghana because I have constituents who do not believe in that policy (E-Levy). We told them that they should come to the table for us to design a bipartisan policy to replace it (but) they never listen to us. So, I can only say that I saw this coming. Most of us saw this coming," he said.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Kojo Nkrumah said that the government’s decision to seek an IMF bailout was borne out of circumstances that are different from those that caused the erstwhile Mahama administration to do the same in 2015.
He stated that Ghana’s current economic crisis was brought about by external factors, not from domestic economic mismanagement as has been suggested by the opposition.
“That is why for example, from 2020, about half of the world’s countries are applying to the Fund for some support. It is not to say that all of the people who manage all of these over one hundred economies do not know how to go about their jobs but is it evidence of the fact that something external, something exogenous has hit, that is why today, Egypt, Kenya, I understand Tunisia is also applying for some sort of support, are asking for support,” he added.
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