IMF bailout will help government attain fiscal discipline – Alan Kyerematen
We are ready to help Ghana restore macroeconomic stability – IMF
Minister of Trade and Industry Alan Kyerematen has expressed optimism on the prospects of the Ghanaian economy bouncing back amid engagements with the International Monetary Fund for financial support.
According to him, government is still hinged on its transformation and recovery programme ahead of an imminent bailout from the Bretton Woods institution.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana segment with Paul Adom Otchere, the trade minister said the decision to seek an IMF bailout should not be considered a negative policy choice.
He attributed the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic as the fundamental facts that have resulted in Ghana’s current economic challenges.
"I believe that we need to have this conversation by acknowledging a few fundamental facts. First, it appears currently, that our country is confronted with economic challenges which have been primarily occasioned and driven by the combined effect of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict. So, this is a fact that we cannot run away from."
"Secondly, going to the IMF ought not to be seen as a negative policy choice. I believe that the negativity associated with going to the IMF for support has been driven by the rather rancorous political discourse over the years. It doesn't matter whether it is the National Democratic Congress or the New Patriotic Party that is leading that discourse,” he added.
He added that the IMF is keen on assisting member countries that require technical or financial assistance to help sustain ailing economies.
The trade minister argued that in the past years, the NDC and NPP needed the IMF at various points to help sustain the Ghanaian economy.
He however explained that a systematic decline in the economic indicators took the opposition NDC to IMF while external but dire factors hauled the governing NPP administration before the donor body.
When asked about his rumoured Presidential ambition, Alan Kyerematen evaded the question stating that his alleged aspiration is less critical at a time when government is working assiduously to reverse the economic hardships facing the citizenry.
“I am an old horse in this game, and I feel that where we are as a country, particularly at this very critical juncture, that conversation becomes less critical and important than us trying to work together…to see what kind of package we can get from the IMF and how we can get ourselves out."
“That conversation, you know, we will have that conversation, I am ready anytime… our focus now as a country…the time is for us to think together and to build Ghana back together,” he stressed.
MA/FNOQ
Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen