IMF deal: Prepare For Severe Hardship - Minority

The Minority in Parliament has raised concerns that the $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund will bring untoward hardship to Ghanaians, especially the youth. The Executive Board of the IMF on Wednesday granted approval for Ghana’s $3 billion bailout request, aimed at revitalizing the country’s struggling economy. The decision was made during the Executive Board’s meeting held on Wednesday, following Ghana’s receipt of financing assurances from the Paris Club.

But the Minority in a statement signed by the Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, slammed the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government for failing to heed the advice of the minority caucus on the deteriorating state of the economy to seek an IMF bailout to place the economy on a path to recovery earlier.

The Minority has on countless occasions cautioned this government that the fruits of its crass mismanagement of Ghana’s economy through wanton misuse of borrowed funds for consumption purposes had long crystallized into a crisis. We urged the government to immediately seek the Fund’s support long ago, a call that was flatly disregarded. The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government’s continuous denial over the true state of Ghana’s economy, and their strenuous attempts to shift responsibility and blame external factors have been clear from day one.

Despite all the manipulations of the data to hide the true state of the economy, the real situation on the ground has no doubt subsequently compelled them to arrive at the doorsteps of the IMF like a patient in an emergency ambulance, desperate for immediate resuscitation. Suffice it to say, that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, as part of their proposal to the IMF to secure this deal, has agreed to increase utility tariffs every three months from last year.

So far, since September 2022, electricity tariffs have gone up by a cumulative figure of 75.32% (27% in September 2022, 29.96% in the last quarter of 2022, and 18.36% a few days ago). Let us brace ourselves for the full consequences of this IMF deal, which will, without doubt, bite hard on Ghanaians, especially the youth. This is not a counsel of despair, but a reality that will soon dawn on all of us.