IMF deal: Cut down your flagship programs – Terkper to gov’t

The former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, has questioned why the government is still insisting on maintaining flagship programs despite running to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

According to him, the government’s mid-year budget review was emphatic that the flagship programs will not change adding that the current administration must emulate the previous government when the country was in a similar situation in the past.

“It is the expenditure that is driving the deficit that is why we are insisting that flagship programs and others should stay intact when they are having these consequences on the economy. Why will you continue flagship policies when we are on a chopping board? If you remember when crude oil prices were falling and all that the Mahama administration announced we’re not going to do all the 200 E-blocks.

“So you tackle the expenditure. On Single Spine, there are significant arrears in the system. So you do an arrangement that at least three years clear arrears and tackle expenditure. Then you go to revenue and you put down strategies, meanwhile, you also tackle the external sector,” he told GHOne news.

The government has, however, put in place certain measures to improve the economy with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) increasing the policy rate by 2.5 per cent some months ago.

Other measures such as increasing the cap-reserves ratio to 12 per cent and the increase in recent conservation buffer to three per cent and also increasing the capital adequacy ratio to 13 per cent.

Despite all these measures, there is no significant improvement in the economy and it looks like things might even get worse for the country.

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh