Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has assured us that there will be frank negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Asked about the future of the Free Senior High School (SHS) and the one district one factory(1D1F) initiatives due to an IMF program, he told TV3’s Paa Kwesi Asare in an interview that “We expect some very frank negotiations and it will determine where we are going on those programs
IMF officials are expected to arrive in Ghana next week to begin negotiations with the government.
Asked again what should be expected Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said “First of all, we, in March put out a program to mitigate the impact of this second crisis on the Ghanaians. In the last week, we have been doing a lot of assessments on how well it has worked.
“What has happened after that, we are of the view that we need to have an enhanced economic program that gives you more than just those specific issues that we had raised. That program needs to be funded from various sources. You need domestic resources to fund that program.
“That is why you instruments like the Electronic Transfer Levy, VAT, Property Rate, other things seeking to raise domestic resources to fund that program. Then you need money from the international capital markets whose access is a bit difficult now because we have been downgraded but we have at least got about a billion dollars in Parliament we are hoping to pass and add to the resources we have to fund the program to improve the condition of our people.
“Then you are also looking for a concessional facility like what we will be discussing with the Fund to add to that so it is a mix of resources that are coming in to fund our domestic economic program and we are that we will be successful in that area.”
He added, “negotiations are negotiations, we are looking for an opportunity to sit with ladies and gentlemen of the Fund, and show them our enhanced domestic program and explain to them why we believe that we need their resourcing in some particular areas to assist us on the balance of payment side which also translates into currency stability, some bit of macro stability that would improve the liquidity for the fiscal as well.”
On Friday, July 1 President Akufo-Addo instructed Mr. Ofori-Atta to commence the engagements with the IMF following a telephone conversation between the President and the IMF Managing Director, Miss Kristalina Georgieva, conveying Ghana’s decision to engage with the Fund