The Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance has raised concerns about the government’s delay in placing a call to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for economic policy credibility.
“I’m amazed the government has still not placed that call to the IMF’s office in the Washington D.C for a bailout,” the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ajumako Enyan Assiam Constituency in the Central Region said.
“The government cannot be shy about calling the IMF at this time because it is the only way out of the current situation the government finds itself”, he said, which, in his view, arose “out of its own reckless spending”.
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson stressed that the IMF is the only way out of the country’s economic situation since the government has borrowed so much but has nothing to show for it.
“Our economic hole is deep and the debt levels are too high,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.
He argued that if the government places that call to the IMF, it would be preserving Ghana’s already-distressed economy.
Per his calculations, Ghana’s debt level is 81 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) adding that this is “worrying.”
According to him, no government has ever taken Ghana’s economy to this level since the advent of the 1992 constitutional dispensation except Akufo-Addo’s.
He called on the government to place a moratorium on sourcing loans until policy credibility is finally attained.
In his view, Ghana’s economic situation cannot be solved by the paltry GHS6.9 billion that the e-levy will accrue if passed.
He argued that e-levy is not the panacea to the country’s economic doldrums.
“The situation we’re in cannot be saved by e-levy. The IMF stands a better chance to offer policy credibility for the situation the government finds itself in,” he added.
