An economist and senior lecturer of finance at the University of Ghana says that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not help us reduce dependence on imports and revitalize domestic production capacity.
According to Dr Patrick Asuming, there are two structural problems plaguing the country’s economy - the structure of the economy and the structure of the public finances.
He was speaking at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting held at the Labadi Beach Hotel, Accra.
Expanding on the theme; “Fiscal Discipline: Breaking the political business cycle in 2024,” the lecturer said the IMF programme does not address any of these problems but rather focuses on stabilizing our public finances.
Dr. Asuming stated that to address the country’s economic hardship, the government must focus on revolutionary measures to alter the economic landscape.
This, he believes, involves strategic thinking on how to reposition the economy to avoid reliance on the Fund in the future.
“If you look at the IMF program, a lot of it is trying to address the problems with our public finance. The way we raise revenue and the way government spends as well as the governance processes around it,” he explained.
“What it doesn’t do enough or what it doesn’t do at all is how we fundamentally change the way our economy works so that we cut our dependence on imports and revamp our domestic production capacity and build a more resilient economy."
He noted that the measures implemented to enact the program were extremely drastic and it is burdensome for ordinary Ghanaians considering the sacrifices that had to be made.
“Even the measures we had to undertake for the program to come into being is very drastic. This is the most costly IMF program for ordinary Ghanaians by way of nature and the level of sacrifices that we’ve been asked to make for the program to come into being.”
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