Story by: Political Desk
President Akufo-Addo announced in a statement that he had given the go-ahead for Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to begin formal negotiations with the IMF, urging the Fund to assist an economic plan developed by the Government of Ghana.
According to the statement singed by the Minister of Information, Hon. Oppong Nkrumah, this decision was arrived when President Akuffo-Addo and Miss Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the IMF, spoke on the phone and discussed Ghana’s determination to work with the Fund.
According to the announcement from the government’s Ministry of Information, the interaction with the IMF will aim to offer balance of payment support as part of a larger attempt to hasten Ghana’s recovery from the problems brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, the Russia-Ukraine conflicts.
Ghana has contacted the Bretton Woods institution twice in the past seven years, the first time being in 2015 under the administration of the then-outgoing John Dramani Mahama.
He asserts that Ghana is a proud country that will look for internal answers to the financial problems it is currently experiencing.
“I can say we are not going to the IMF. Whatever we do, we are not. Consequences are dire, we are a proud nation, we have the resources, we have the capacity. We are not people of short sight, but we have to move on.
“So let’s think of who we are as a strong proud people, the shining star of Africa, and we have the capacity to do whatever we want to do if we speak one language and ensure that we share the burden in the issues ahead,” Mr Ofori-Atta told the gathering at the E-Levy town hall meeting in the Northern Regional Capital of Tamale.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
