The Minority Caucus in parliament has said that Ghanaians are yet to face the full consequences of the IMF deal in the coming days.
Their comments come following the approval of the $3 billion-dollar loan request by the IMF board on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.
The Minority believes that Ghanaians will soon face reality when the brunt of government’s decision to pursue a loan from the IMF bites hard.
In a statement released on Thursday, May 18, 2023, and signed by leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority pointed out how for instance, utility tariffs have been increased since September 2022 by 75.32%.
According to them, government’s failure to seek the bailout in 2021 when things were not this critically dire has cost the country more and resulted in tragic events including the ‘cruel haircuts’ impacts on banks and insurance companies among others.
“We are on record to have urged this government to seek an IMF bailout in 2021, two clear years ahead of this announcement date, by which time things were not this critically dire but true to their ‘Yentie Obiaa’ disposition, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government arrogantly ignored wise counsel,” parts of the statement said.
They also urged the Akufo-Addo government to emerge with the Board document on the true state of Ghana’s economy as well as details of the bargain between the IMF and government.
“Having secured a Board approval, the Ghanaian people will look forward to the Board document on the true state of Ghana’s economy in the coming days.
“This report will outline the full details of the bargain between the Fund and the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government, in terms of our Debt Sustainability Analysis, Performance Criteria, Structural Benchmarks and the gamut of other conditionalities that have been agreed on,” the statement continued.
Read the full statement below:
