Business News of Friday, 15 July 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-07-15Leave NDC out of reasons for IMF return – Franklin Cudjoe to Bawumia
Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President of Imani Africa
Bawumia speaks on why Ghana went to IMF
Bawumia says COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine war were external triggers
Bawumia jabs Mahama administration for internal triggers
Franklin Cudjoe of IMANI Africa has tasked Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia to focus on getting Ghana out of the current economic predicament instead of outsourcing the cause of the problem.
Cudjoe described as
Read full article‘politically and economically not prudent’ that Bawumia in a recent lecture is pointing fingers at the NDC as part of the major reasons the government went to the International Monetary Fund, IMF, for an economic rescue programme.
“My dear Veep, please leave the NDC out of the major reasons for the return to the IMF. It is politically and economically not prudent. A playback of your own tapes while in opposition will help reset this loud misconception,” he posted on Twitter, July 14, 2022.
His post came hours after Bawumia delivered a lecture on the reasons Ghana returned to the IMF despite the earlier stance by the government against such a move.
Among the reasons he outlined was the role that the Mahama government played especially with the banking crisis and the issue of excess capacity payments in the power sector – both issues inherited from the Mahama government by the Akufo-Addo government in 2017.
“If you take out the fiscal impact of this quadruple whammy, Ghana will not be going to the IMF for support because our fiscal, debt and balance of payments outlook would be sustainable. Of the four factors, two (COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war) were external and the other two (the banking sector clean-up and the excess capacity payments) were the result of policies of the previous government,” he clarified.
Ghana is currently in talks with the IMF or an economic rescue programme amid the generally high cost of living. Government has serially blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war as the main triggers for the downturn.
The World Bank team that left Accra on July 13 after a weeklong stay through its team lead Carlo Sdralevich admitted that the economy had been impacted by the two incidents and expressed support to the government in a bid to steer off the current challenges.
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