Ken Thompson proposes 15 years IMF programme for Ghana
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson, has proposed a 15 year IMF programme for Ghana.
Making the assertion on norvanreports’s Twitter Space Conversation dubbed “Ghana’s Looming Financial Crisis: Local or External”, Mr Thompson quipped the 15 year programme is necessary to correct the many structural deficiencies of the Ghanaian economy.
Further asserting that, policy makers, given the present and past economic crisis, have shown their inability to effectively manage the Ghanaian economy.
“Left to me, Ghana should undergo a 15 year IMF programme, because we have shown that we cannot manage the economy by ourselves, so the IMF should save us from ourselves,” he quipped.
Ghana is currently seeking a $3bn bailout programme from the IMF to rectify its balance of payment needs.
The country is currently saddled with unsustainable debt for which it undertook a domestic debt restructuring programme and is also looking to restructure its external debts in order to qualify for the IMF bailout programme.
The Finance Minister is currently in China, negotiating to have the Asian super power restructure its $1.7bn loans to Ghana.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has expressed his optimism about securing external financing assurances from China soon, as he seeks to fast-track the country’s quest for support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Ghana secured a staff-level agreement with the IMF in December last year for a $3 billion loan, which is subject to bilateral lenders providing financing assurances on existing debts before the IMF board can sign off on the program.
In a tweet on Friday, March 24, the minister noted that the meetings with China have been positive and encouraging, raising hopes for an imminent breakthrough on this critical front.
The government’s push for external financing assurances comes as Ghana faces mounting fiscal pressures, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s ongoing efforts to revive its struggling economy.
With the IMF loan package held up by the need for bilateral financing assurances, securing this external support would be a crucial boost for the government’s economic agenda, allowing it to access much-needed funding to support its recovery and reform efforts.
