An influential member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has explained even though the government of Ghana has secured a facility of $1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support its fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic, it does not mean the country is back in an IMF programme.

Following the announcement that the IMF had successfully approved a credit facility of $1 billion to help Ghana confront the virus, many called out the governing NPP for demonizing the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) for borrowing from the IMF while the NDC was in power.

But in a sharp rebuttal, Mr Asare explained that the money made available by the IMF to help countries fight the virus is not similar to the Extended Credit Facility program that the NDC government entered into with the IMF in 2015.

Instead, he praised the current administration for being able to double the amount the IMF had made available to the country by making a strong case.

“Ghana pushed for $1bn IMF support to fight Covid-19. Yes, IMF has approved $1bn for Ghana. No, this does not mean we are back in an IMF program. The Fund says it has a $1 trillion war chest to fight Covid-19. Ghana made a strong case for double what IMF had on the table for us,” he wrote.

Ghana is among developing countries that have had to turn to the IMF for support to fight the pandemic due to resource constraints.