IMF team arrives in Ghana to negotiations
IMF bailout to come with pains, says Joe Jackson
Finance expert, Joe Jackson, has admonished advocates of an International Monetary Fund bailout not to be excited about the government’s eventual decision to seek assistance from the Fund.
According to him, the decision to approach the IMF for a bailout must have come as a tough one for the government, considering its earlier position and the implications of the decision.
He indicated that people who made earlier calls for the government to approach the IMF must not celebrate on the back of the government’s decision.
“In fact, if you think about it clearly, this government knew exactly what the political fallout will be of going to the IMF, they had said categorically over and over again that we will not go to the IMF. They had postured and said with the e-levy, we don’t even need to go to the IMF.
“Of course, all these hasn’t happened so what it should tell each one of us is this, the situation must be dire, the situation must be tough, the situation must be so tough that we are prepared to take the political fallouts because there is no other option.
“Today is not a day of victory for those of us who said the government should be going to the IMF long time ago, today is a day of sadness because today marks the reality that the situation is really tough,” Mr Jackson said.
Joe Jackson, who was speaking in an interview with TV3, emphasised that the conditions which will be set out by the IMF as part of a bailout program will come with hardship.
He indicated that such conditions would include expenditure cuts.
“We all expect the IMF to say, you have to cut expenditure significantly. When those proposals come, where will the expenditure cut be? There may be some route to begin, I am prepared to cut expenditure in this area and not in that area.
“Some of the options may be politically more palatable than others. Whatever it is, there is going to be a lot of pain. You can’t get out of the situation we are in today without pain,” he said.
The government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Information, on Friday, June 1, 2022, announced a decision to seek a bailout from the IMF to mitigate current economic challenges facing the country.
The decision by the government has been cited by some critics as a U-turn in the government’s earlier position against a possible bailout.
Meanwhile, a team from the IMF are expected to arrive in Ghana on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, to commence talks with the government of Ghana.
GA/BOG
Finance expert, Joe Jackson