Pressure mounts for Ofori-Atta to resign
Government defends IMF U-turn despite critique
Professor Lord Mensah, an economist and lecturer at the University of Ghana has added his voice to calls for Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to resign.
The academic cites how the Ministry under his leadership promised that if the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) was accepted Ghana will not need to g to the International Monetary Fund.
“Ofori-Atta should (resign) but he should also be part of the team that will negotiate with the IMF because he has the economic memory and he cannot take it away completely, and so even if he is stepping aside… he is still a Ghanaian and we expect that he will be part of the negotiation team,” Prof. Mensah said on the Market Place programme on Joy News, July 21, 2022.
He continued: “I’m not convinced that they got their projections right when it comes to the expectations on the E-Levy to convince Ghanaians that if you take up the E-Levy, you will end up not going to the IMF.”
He observed that, with E-Levy making 10% of projected revenue, “I ask myself, what Finance Minister will make a projection and make only 10% out of it, there seems to be some technical missing link here,” he stressed.
The Minister is on record as stating that he was not going to quit despite increasing calls. He said quitting will signal an abandonment of his responsibilities likening it to a father and his children and the need for the father to look out for the best interest of his kids.
“Father to child is a blood relationship, fathers can mess up and be accepted but this (Finance Ministry) is an appointment it is not an attachment, so, essentially we should get the difference right,” the economist stressed.
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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Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister and President Akufo-Addo (right)