Ghana may have to go to IMF again if prudent measures are not adopted – Prof. Bokpin

Successive governments have failed to manage economy, Economist

Ghana has been to the IMF 16 times

IMF team begins negotiations with government

Economist at the University of Ghana, Prof. Godfred Bokpin, has projected that Ghana’s decision to go to the IMF may not be the last time the country will go to the institution for aid.

According to him, successive governments’ inability to institute policies that will help stabilize the economy has resulted in the country's economic woes.

“This is not the last time we will be going to the IMF. We have failed as a country to successfully do the needful- to say these are the necessary fiscal reforms we need to pride ourselves as a nation that won independence in 1957,” he said in a JoyNews interview.

Ghana has been to the IMF 16 times, however, Prof. Bokpin noted that most of the reforms the country was expected to embark on have not been executed.

“When we were exiting the 16th program in 2019, the government promised the IMF they were going to embark upon certain reforms – fiscal reforms, productivity-enhancing reforms and they satisfied the IMF that these were going to be done. The IMF agreed with them in principle and we exited successfully.”

“The other thing they said was a Fiscal Responsibility Act. Inbuilt in that they talked about a Fiscal Council but then the Exemption Bill went to Parliament and government wasn’t really committed to passing the Exemption Bill. They only took it to Parliament to fulfill righteousness. The Bill was never passed.”

According to him, if this continues, the country will have to go to the IMF again.

“If you put all these together, you realize that how we are running our democracy is very expensive – that when it comes to the cost of running the government architecture, it leaves nothing for development activity."

“And if we continue like this, you’ll have to be unique to expect a different outcome and I’m sorry if we don’t take advantage of the next program to make the necessary reforms, we will be there (IMF) again,” he added.

SSD/FNOQ