Former Adenta MP and NPP National Communications Director Yaw Buaben Asamoa has gently reacted to Gabby Otchere-apparent Darko's appeal for the government to rethink its decision to forgo seeking financial help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Following recent comments regarding the economy, Gabby Otchere-Darko, a member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the cousin of President Nana Akufo-Addo, has sparked debate over whether the government should ask the IMF for assistance.
IMF and Emerging Issues
Mr. Otchere-Darko requested the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration to "quite soon" "inject confidence in our abilities to ride this huge storm" in a tweet on Monday.
"Covid-19 and the War in Ukraine are not of Africa's making, but rather more to our fate," he claimed. A software that acts as though it is entirely our idea is bound to fail.
"Ghana belongs to the IMF. The state of the globe is critical. Our excessive debt and poor income levels do not assist our situation. If the government is forced to reduce capital expenditures because the economy is still expanding but investor confidence is low, this would eventually result in job losses, the speaker continued.
When asked about his views on the IMF, he responded, "Am I against an IMF programme? No. I oppose an IMF proposal that offers us pitiful sums of money but imposes restrictions that will ultimately harm the poor, employment opportunities, and companies more.
Gabby also brought up concerns about the government's Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), which was put in place to gather money for the nation's infrastructure development.
"After 5 months of stalemate and bashing, the e-levy, after implementation, is delivering only 10% of estimated revenues," he wrote in a tweet. "Our revenues remain very low compared to the rest of the world. " "Debt levels are dangerously high. The cedi, like most currencies, is struggling against the dollar.
Government and Stakeholder Economic Meeting
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the minister of information, has also revealed that the government would have a series of consultations with important economic stakeholders from June 27 to June 29, 2022, to evaluate the effects of the economic mitigation measures launched in March of this year.
The Minister revealed this in an interview with journalists in Accra, explaining that the engagements would allow the government to assess whether the measures taken had lessened the negative effects of recent global crises on the populace and would also allow the Ministers of State to offer suggestions on how to further bolster Ghanaians during these trying times.
Response from Yaw Buaben Asamoa
Mr. Yaw Buaben Asamoa has advised the government to drop any ideas of approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as conversations over whether or not the government should do so for financial aid and with the management of Ghana's economy are progressing.
He believes that President Akufo-initiatives Addo's are already addressing the requirements that the IMF would put on the nation.
He referred to the Finance Minister guaranteeing Ghanaians that gasoline discounts for government employees would be reduced by 50% and spending would be reduced by 30%, and he questioned "do we have implementation numbers regarding that?"
He firmly believed that Ghana can and must be self-sufficient, and he urged for extensive public participation in the monitoring, execution, and assessment of the social interventionist measures the government intended to comfort the Ghanaian people.
He questioned why the government hasn't yet revealed the implementation figures on its plans so Ghanaians may know what they have done, but he was concerned about how the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration is faring.
Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo," Mr. Buaben Asamoa encouraged the President and his administration to rethink those 2018 programmes they promised the public they would execute and speed up the implementation of those that have been postponed.
He also suggested that they use the stakeholder meeting to inform the public about the policies they have implemented or are working to implement for the sake of the country.
"We failed to carry out the actions we had promised to do and which would have benefited us personally. The government of created the 2018 budget.