The Dean of University of Cape Coast Business School, Prof. John Gatsi has raised red flag transparency following the announcement that the Government of Ghana is set to receive another US$1billion to support the economy.
Speaking to Awake News, Prof. Gatsi said though this “is described as non-loan because its made available as a result of Ghana’s shareholding in the IMF”, the “Truth is if we don’t need it we will not go for it.”
According to the economist, “Truth is if we don’t need it we will not go for it. What is left is the assurance of transparency in the use of this money bearing in mind we are yet to read the Covid expenditure audit report ” adding that the “Government should quickly announce how it planned to use this money to ensure accountability.”
Prof. Gatsi, revealed that the “The IMF over the years has been criticized for contributing to the economic management and governance of Ghana through many of its interventions. Despite the criticism, it is on record that the IMF has provided critical fiscal, balance of payment and policy interventions without which the Ghanaian economy would have suffered near collapse”
“Between 2001 to date, we can mention the HIPC initiative by the NPP which strategically guided government to invest the benefits in social interventions. Another one was the extended credit facility under the NDC in 2015 and was extended by the NPP. In 2020, the IMF again supported the government under NPP with US$1billion called rapid credit facility to deal with Covid -19 pandemic. This was a loan with repayment starting after 5years with no interest.” – he told Awake News
“IMF has greatly supported the current government more than the alternative since 2001.” – he added
During this year’s mid-year budget presentation in Parliament the Finance Minister indicated that despite the covid 19, the government has not gone to the IMF for a bailout.
But Prof. Gatsi dismissed the claims of the Finance Minister explaining that “A bailout is just a financial support or assistance to reduce difficulty or to avoid the collapse of an economy.” and “In 2020 Ghana actually went to the IMF with approval from parliament to receive one billion United States dollars equivalent to six billion Ghana cedis to reduce the sharp pain and avoid the imminent collapse of the economy.”