Seeking IMF bailout means Akufo-Addo gov’t has failed – Kennedy Agyapong

Outspoken Member of Parliament for the Assin Central constituency, Kennedy Agyapong, has taken a dig at President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mr. Agyapong argued that only governments who have failed to live up to expectations seek support from the Britton Woods institution.

“During NDC’s era, I said any government that takes his country to IMF has failed. So if my government is going to IMF, do you want me to backtrack? People will not take me seriously. I still stand by it, we [NPP government] have failed,” he said in a Citi News interview during the NPP’s National Delegates Conference at the Accra Sports stadium on Saturday.

Mr. Agyapong, however, argued that, there’s a vast difference between what compelled the erstwhile Mahama government to seek an IMF programme and those that pushed the Akufo-Addo government to run to the Britton Wood institution.

“The mere fact that you have gone to IMF means you have failed. But there’s a difference between the IMF under NDC and the IMF under NPP. Under NPP, we’ve been unfortunate to have a Covid pandemic. As if it was not enough, when it was subsiding, then came the Russia-Ukraine war. In America, inflation normally hovers around one or two percent. But now, in 40 years history of America, inflation is 8.7%. That alone tells you that it is not the fault of NPP. I have never seen Americans fighting for baby formula to feed their kids. Was that the situation under NDC when they took us to IMF? The answer is no. So that alone tells you that, the level of mismanagement of the two parties going to IMF–NDC’s own is higher than that of NPP.”

Government is seeking support from the IMF to revive Ghana’s ailing economy, which is challenged by huge debt levels, high inflation rates and low revenue generation.