Govt already implementing measures likely to be recommended by IMF – NPP to Mahama

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said the Akufo-Addo government is already implementing the measures that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to recommend to the country in case the country decides to go for relief.

This follows calls by former President John Dramani Mahama for government to organise a national economic forum as an antecedent to returning to the IMF.

Reacting to this at a Press Conference held in Accra on Wednesday, 9 February 2022, Communications Director of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa condemned Mr. Mahama’s comments.

“For example, he is castigating the government for not having a plan for fiscal consolidation that development partners will buy into, but he says this without realising that the development community has accepted the cost-cutting measures of 20percent in expenditure and E-Levy as the building block of our recovery.

“So, where is the lack of plan that he is mentioning, usually his focus is three things, increasing revenue internally, cutting waste and managing debt, these are the three prescriptions the IMF proposes,” Mr. Buaben Asamoa noted.

The NPP Communications Director further continued that: “So, at this stage for the former president to insist that we should go to a Senchi-like event where we will then march off to the IMF for relief, it doesn’t really work, we are already implementing the measures that the IMF is likely to bring forward.”

The NPP communications director said it is not prudent to return to the International Monetary Fund.

He further noted that the country will not go back to the IMF.

“…Having gone to the IMF and we are now struggling to fund roads including in the cities, we can’t go back to that and we will not go back to that because we have a positive relationship with the IMF already in terms of Article 4 consultation that we do annually, in our last Article 4 consultation the IMF stated clearly how we have dealt with COVID.”