Mahama must avoid IMF return to secure legacy – IEA Fellow

A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, has urged President John Mahama to take bold, corrective measures to prevent Ghana from returning to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the current programme concludes.

Dr. Antwi-Danso believes that repeated reliance on the IMF is largely due to excessive government spending—particularly in election years—which undermines fiscal discipline and fuels economic instability.

“The president has given indication that it is a legacy term. If it’s a legacy term then I suspect he must put things right so we don’t go back. It is a routine ritual, this is the 17th and there is no indication that this is going to be the end. It is because of the spending spree especially during election years,” he said.

Dr. Antwi-Danso emphasized that such spending is often not growth-oriented, warning that borrowing for consumption rather than investment only deepens the country’s financial vulnerabilities.

“During election years, we throw everything to the dogs and spend the way we spend and the spending is not such that it is bringing back the money we are spending. It is just for consumption. We borrow for consumption,” he added.

He called on the Mahama administration to enforce strict fiscal discipline and pursue structural reforms that would strengthen economic governance and reduce dependency on external support.

Ghana is currently implementing a $3 billion IMF-supported programme aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and achieving debt sustainability. The programme is scheduled to end next year.

However, some experts, including the Country Managing Partner of Deloitte Ghana, Daniel Kwadwo Owusu, have proposed extending the programme by one or two years, citing the progress made so far and the need to consolidate economic gains.