Ghana’s economic problems cannot be solved alone by the IMF deal – Oppong Nkrumah

Government has admitted that securing the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not the only panacea to dealing with the current economic challenges.

The government has since July last year engaged the fund for a $3 billion bailout to help restore the economy.

In addition to this, government has rolled out policies and programmes aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability.

Industry players have been relentless in their opinions of government’s role in bringing relief to Ghanaians. Providing an update on the engagement with the IMF thus far, Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said government is confident of addressing current challenges.

“The Government of Ghana has had an enhanced programme which has been designed to help us recover from major shocks we are suffering. And to make that programme effectual, we will need some balance of payments support from the IMF. And that is what we have been working on, and all indications suggest to us that we should be bringing that to a closure pretty soon. But that is not all the panacea to our economic challenges, we have other programmes to help us to bring back growth, help private sector kicking and get cost of living under control,” Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on May 2 courted the support of Japan to help Ghana reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board for the 3 billion dollar balance of payment support.

According to Akufo-Addo, Japan which is a member of the Paris Club has a major role to play in Ghana securing the IMF deal.

Speaking at a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida who made a stopover at the Jubilee House Tuesday evening, Mr Akufo-Addo said Ghana will repay Japan’s support.

“Ghana is also counting on the support of Japan in reaching a favourable agreement with the International Monetary Fund which will pave the way for the robust recovery of Ghana’s economy,” President Akufo-Addo said.