COVID, Russia-Ukraine war: Acts of God led us to IMF - Obiri Boahen

Ghanaians suffering economic hardship

Government signs up for an IMF programme

Opposition mocks government for decision to seek IMF support

Deputy General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party, NPP, Nana Obiri Boahen, has averred that divine circumstances forced the government to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

He told a Kumasi-based radio station

Read full articleon July 6, 2022; that the government was right to turn to the IMF as it was months back when it insisted on using homegrown policies to tackle an economic downturn.

Obiri Boahen cited the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, both of which he said were acts of God and thus matters that government could not control relative to the impact on Ghana's economy.

“Going to IMF is not something so strange. The only thing is, just as we are human, sometimes in our speech and behaviours, we must give room for the unexpected.

"Had it been that nothing happened and the NPP government decided to go to IMF, then we may be grumbling a lot,” Obiri Boahen said in an interview with Angel FM in Kumasi.

“The fact that we insisted we were not going to IMF some time back and now we have decided to go doesn’t mean our homegrown policies have failed or we don’t have the men anymore, the situation is uncontrollable.

“Look at the pandemics that shook the world, which has made us prompted our decision, with that, COVID is act of God, Russia-Ukraine war is also an act of God,” he stressed.

Ghana approaches IMF

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on July 1, authorized the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to hold formal talks with the Bretton Woods institution. The IMF team arrived in Accra on July 6 and began engagements with the government.

Ghana is facing a huge debt burden, revenue generation constraints and other factors which have placed the economy in a dire situation.

Recent developments on the globe, coupled with supply chain disruptions, the fallout from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have made the situation even direr.

Government of Ghana is however targeting about US$3 billion from the International Monetary Fund under an economic support programme.

This was contained in a document released by the Ministry of Finance spelling out some details of the government's engagement with officials from the Bretton Woods institution in July.

The ministry explained that it seeks to secure the fund under a recently introduced innovative blended programme from the IMF dubbed; High Combined Credit Exposure (HCCE) policy.

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