The IMF is not comparable to commercial borrowing – Economist tells gov’t

The approval of the $170 million loan agreement has sparked heated arguments among politicians especially the members of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Some members of the opposition party (NDC) have shared how disappointed they are about the approved $170 million.

According to these NDC members, the NPP government has no empathy on Ghanaians despite the debts owed. These NDC members feel a lot of burden will be transferred to tax payers through loan approvals.

Bernard Oduro who is a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a chartered economist during a panel discussion on Sunrise Wednesday May 3, shared his disappointment about the loan approval.

Mr. Oduro who did not agree with his fellow panelist from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assertion George Ayisi, insisted that the IMF cannot be compared to commercial borrowing.

He urged politicians to put an end to partisan politics and love Ghana as expected.

“You’ve got to love Ghana. If the NDC comes to power and we get it wrong I’ll say openly. Let’s be honest, don’t let us be extremely partisan to the extent that we defend everything at the pearl of our moral turpitude.”

“From the financial economy point of view, it is not wrong to go into debts. We the NDC believe in social justice and every social justification will need taxation to create equity so the NDC is not against borrowing, going for loans and debts. But we’re every much concerned the framework of debts you(NPP) go in for.”

“Are you going for asset debts or liability debts?” He quizzed.

“And in every governance structure, when you go in for debts you have to weigh the debts and ask whether the debts is an asset or liability one.”

Mr. Oduro says going in for an asset debt is the best decision the government can make instead of going in for liability debts.

Siting some examples Mr. Bernard Oduro explained that asset debts deals with investing loans into building factories that can generate enough revenue to pay off debts while liability debts deals with purchasing fertilizers for farmers and this will not generate income for the government because these farmers do not work for the state.