Ghana's economy won’t collapse without IMF deal - Prof. Gatsi to Ofori-Atta

The Dean of the University of Cape Coast Business School (UCCBS), Prof. John Gatsi says nothing shows that the Ghanaian economy will crash without securing an International Monetary Fund bailout.

His comment comes on the back of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta saying that without the participation of identified groups for the Domestic Debt Exchange Program Ghana’s economy will collapse.

According to him, the deadline for the program which elapses on Tuesday will not be extended and hopes that all stakeholders will participate.

Commenting on the deadline of the DDEP on Morning Starr with Francis Abban, Mr. Gasti stated the Finance Minister is painting a picture as if the nation is at war hence everybody should sacrifice.

“The debt exchange should be done in a manner that will reflect the individual, so if the individual says look, the bond that I had is just 5,000 and the interest on it, that is what I use to take care of my medical bill even with the individual bondholders there are degrees there are people with huge sums of money and people without huge sums of money.

“The finance minister could do the targeting but it is as if the principle is that everybody should contribute. That is what they rejected and we cannot force them because we felt it is voluntary and we cannot pay for it,” Mr. Gatsi explained.

He continued: “Now, we are saying that if they don’t get the IMF deal in March the economy will collapse, collapse how? Because there is nothing in the government arrangement that shows that we are in a dire economic situation and that if we don’t sign the IMF deal by March we will collapse. The expenditure arrangements do not reflect that.”