Pressure mounts for Ofori-Atta to resign
Government defends IMF U-turn despite critique
Former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, has called on Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to resign from his position.
He cites the main reason for his call as the decision of the government to seek an economic rescue programme with the International Monetary Fund, IMF – a position that the Minister had vehemently opposed publicly and vowed will not be taken.
According to Agyapong, the Minister must on his own volition tender his resignation because of his anti-IMF statements and having “got it wrong.”
“I will think that based on what he (Ofori-Atta) said two weeks before to the whole country, which is that we will never go to the IMF and we are a proud country and we have the resources….
“When you speak like that, you should look yourself in the mirror and say ‘I got it wrong,’ Mr. President I thank you for the opportunity and I should stand down,” Agyapong stated on the Hard Truth show.
He becomes one of the major NPP personalities calling for the Minister to resign over the IMF U-turn. Opposition voices led by former President John Dramani Mahama have called for the Minister to be sacked and the Economic Management Team led by Vice President Bawumia to be reconstituted.
President Akufo-Addo ordered Ofori-Atta via a July 1 statement to present an economic rescue programme to the IMF.
A team from the Fund led by Carlo Sdralevich has since visited Ghana between July 6 – 13, meeting with relevant stakeholders.
Ghana’s economic headaches
In recent months, Ghana has been faced with rather difficult economic challenges which have left almost all economic indicators in distress.
The country, despite some gains made during the COVID-19 pandemic, is facing a huge debt burden, revenue generation constraints and other factors which have placed the economy in a dire situation.
Recent developments around the globe, coupled with supply chain disruptions, the fallout from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have made the situation even direr.
Meanwhile, the government of Ghana is targeting about US$3 billion from the International Monetary Fund under an economic support programme.
This was contained in a document released by the Ministry of Finance spelling out some details of the government's engagement with officials from the Bretton Woods institution in July.
The ministry explained that it seeks to secure the fund under a recently introduced innovative blended programme from the IMF dubbed; High Combined Credit Exposure (HCCE) policy.
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SARA/PEN
Kwabena Agyapong, former NPP General Secretary