Vice President of Imani Africa, Mr Bright Simons has said there was no new major policy announcement in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s address to the nation on Sunday October 30, to tackle the economic challenges.
He described this situation as sad.
In his address President Akufo-Addo mentioned among other things that the discussions with the International Monetary Fund is going well.
The programme is expected to repair, in the short term, the defects of the 2022 budget, which is said to have been thrown out of gear owing to the global economic crises occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine war.
“I am able to report to you, my fellow Ghanaians, that the negotiations to secure a strong IMF Programme, which will support the implementation of our Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth and additional funding to support the 2023 Budget and development programme, are at advanced stages, and are going well.”
President Akufo-Addo assured that when a deal is hopefully reached by the end of the year, his government’s economic measures will be further given credence.
“I urge us all to see the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund in this light.
“We have gone to the Fund to repair, in the short term, our public finances, and restore our balance of payments, whilst we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of constructing a resilient, robust Ghanaian economy, and building a Ghana Beyond Aid.”
In a tweet reacting to the President’s address, Mr Simons said “I’ve now read the first major speech of the President of Ghana on the economic crisis. Sadly, no major new policy announcements. But he did reveal the govt’s negotiation posture at the IMF: the govt wants to use 6 years to fix its unsustainable debt & doesn’t want debt restructuring.
“Six years is of course twice the duration of an IMF program. And using 6 yrs to restore debt sustainability means dragging out the debt service burden. These sound like opening gambits in a negotiation. Will make many analysts doubt that the talks are ‘advanced’ as he says.
“Minor issue: why the factual inaccuracies? No, inflation hasnt increased by 16 times in Togo or eleven-fold in Senegal! Inflation has moved from 1.8% to 7.5% in Senegal. And 0.7% to 5.6% in Togo.
“The figures are still so low that the impact on citizens is far lower than in Ghana.”
