Business News of Sunday, 10 July 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-07-10Free water, electricity, others contributed to current economic woes – Assibey-Yeboah
Former New Juaben South MP, Mark Assibey-Yeboah
Ghana runs to IMF for financial bailout
There was no war when Ghana was being downgraded, Mark Assibey-Yeboah
It is good we have IMF, Former New Juaben Sotuh MP on economic crisis
Former Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, Mark Assibey-Yeboah,
Read full articlehas said the outbreak of the global pandemic - coronavirus and the Russia-Ukraine war are not the main factors that led to the country's current economic woes.
According to him, government's expenditure during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic including the freebies given out to Ghanaians amounted to the debt and economic crisis the country now finds itself in.
In an interview on Citi TV, Mark Assibey-Yeboah said, “with all the free things that we enjoyed, government spending went into the roof, the free water, electricity, the cooked meals, the COVID-19 support and all that was given out...If you look at how we were able to manage the pandemic, and then the consequences thereof, I don’t think all of it is attributable to the pandemic and then the war.
“At the time Ghana was being downgraded in January there was no war, so we should leave the war bit out. The good thing about having a fund programme is that we would have to open our books. So when the fund comes in, we would know the arrears situation for instance,” he added.
Officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday, July 6, 2022 arrived in Ghana to begin negotiations with Government of Ghana on a financial bailout programme.
The programme from the fund is aimed at stabilizing the wobbling economy.
Meanwhile, the team is expected to meet officials of the Finance Ministry, the Economic Management Team and the Presidency during their one-week stay.
ESA/WA
