Where’s the $1b IMF COVID-19 Money? -Seth Terkper Ask Gov’t

Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has questioned why government did not disclose the $1billion COVID-19 cash given the country by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the 2022 budget.

Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Tuesday, Mr. Terkpe who was responding the amendment to the 2022 budget by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said government is not being honest with the use of the fund.

“The money we got from the IMF, the 1 billion, where is it in the budget, if it is financing then what is that money going to finance? Remember this is our money we have deprived ourselves for a long time. It is our capital with the IMF which has appreciated and has taken that money and we are not telling Parliament this and that project we have done,” he stated.

The former Minister for Finance further stated that the government failed to bring clarity in the 2022 budget presented to Parliament.

“What you have to do is to take the budget items one by one, where am I going to raise revenue, where am I going to reduce expenditure. That is the most difficult one because it requires some strategy to tell people that this government policy seems to be working,” he added.

“When we talk about IMF people think they come and push things down our throats, but really what happens is that the government sits with the IMF who has tax administration experts, expenditure experts, debt experts together with the team from World Bank who helped in putting things in place. That is the other aspect that we don’t talk about, that is what it means to go into a program. The only thing is the conditionalities,”

“For example, with the current situation that we are finding it difficult to service debts which is why the IMF brought the debt suspension program which it we did not opt for. Because we are having difficulty with our debt we should have provided that relief then you would have gone through it,” he added.