TUC kicks against calls for government to seek IMF support
The Ghana Trade Union Congress [TUC] has kicked against calls for government to seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund to revive the economy.
Director for Research at the TUC, Dr. Kwabena Nyarko, has said the continuous assistance that government has sought from the IMF in the past years has yielded little results, therefore, it is about time the country abandoned any economic programme from the Fund.
He said this while speaking at a forum organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs on the back of calls for the country to seek economic assistance from the IMF.
‘’It is like a kind of ponzi game developing between us and the IMF and the people of Ghana. In the past 16 times that we have been with the IMF, and let me say that for those of us in the labour Union, we are ideologically opposed to the IMF and there are many reasons why we are opposed to the Fund.
“One of the reasons why we are opposed to the IMF is because of large scale retrenchment in the public sector, and they even add the private sector, and so there is reduction of about 10% of the weight labour in Ghana,’’ he stated.
There have been on 16 different occasions that Ghana has sought financial and economic assistance from the IMF since independence.
Meanwhile, Economist and Finance lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof. Godfred Bopkin, has indicated that it is just a matter of time and Ghana will have to run to the IMF for financial support.
He noted that the fiscal measures announced by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, are insufficient to revive the economy.
‘’Because our revenue remains dwarfed and expenditure is way up, we have been living far beyond our means. So if we should continue like that, I mean the logical outcome is what we will see here and that is why we are saying that until we put in drastic measures, and the ones that we recently announced does not go to the core of the matter, and its the reason we can’t see sustainability under the existing measures and that is why it is not so difficult for the IMF to say well, if you don’t to come, no problem. And it is just a matter of time right, and I just told you that in 2006, we said we wanted to be on our own, they said no problem , less than three years we made a u-turn,’’ he opined.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has indicated that the current economic recovery programme that the country has implemented, is considered very credible and that it will give the country the opportunity to rise to its feet again.
“In Ghana, the recovery programme that we have is considered very credible and it is what is going to give us the opportunity to come out of this period stronger, it is that future we are looking at,” the President stated.
He noted that the negative impact of the covid-19 as well as the impact of the Russian-Ukraine war has hit various economies around the world with Ghana not being an exception.
Adding that economies around the world are all struggling owing to these two main factors.
“I don’t know any economy in the world that is doing well in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and also the geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine.
“But we have also the opportunity to have industries set up not just for Ghana but also for the ECOWAS market and for the African market.
“We now have an African Continental Free Trade Area agreement which is up and operating. Ghana is the gateway to its market of 1.2 billion people. Imagine the opportunities that we are presenting.”
To this end, Mr Okwoche interjected and told the President that, “Let us just be honest, the Ghanaian economy is doing just terribly. Inflation in your country is 15.1 per cent. The Ghanaian cedi has fallen 20 per cent on the dollar.”
But President Akufo-Addo replied him saying, “The Cedi has begun to firm up, the world is going through a difficult [moment], Ghana is no exception, Nigeria is no exception. There is no country in the world that is escaping the ravages of Covid-19 and also the impact of the [Russia-Ukraine conflict].”
The President made the comments while answering questions in an interview with BBC’s Peter Okwoche on Monday, April 4, concerning the Ghanaian economy.
Notable among government’s economic recovery programme is the GHS 100 billion Ghana CARES Obaatanpa Programme which is a three and half year comprehensive programme to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, return the country to a sustained path of robust growth and to create a more resilient and transformed economy.
