General News of Tuesday, 8 November 2022

Source: starrfm.com.gh

Government playing hide and seek with IMF over debt restructuring roadmap – Minority

Minority Spokesperson on finance, Isaac Adongo Minority Spokesperson on finance, Isaac Adongo

The minority in Parliament has disclosed the government is not showing any commitment towards getting a deal with the IMF.

According to the NDC MPs, government is playing hide and seek with the Fund while pursuing other options which they argue are not favorable to the survival of the country’s economy.

Addressing journalists in parliament, a minority spokesperson on finance, Isaac Adongo disclosed the IMF bailout has been delayed as a result of government’s refusal to announce a debt restructuring roadmap.

“In the meantime, they are buying themselves time to see whether that can disappear, but they will need to take that bold decision on debt restructuring because it’s not an option. Ghana as we speak today does not comply with the requirement of IMF for a funded programme because the IMF does not lend into an unsustainable situation and Ghana’s debt has been concluded to be unsustainable. And this fact was communicated to government in its 8th memoir that the IMF issued the last time before it left. So there is no way we can have an IMF programme that is supported by funding without undertaking steps to bring our debt to sustainable levels so that we’re in compliance with the IMF own internal requirements.”

The deputy ranking member for the finance committee further disclosed government is struggling to put together the 2023 budget thus the inability to present it by the stipulated November 15 per the public finance management Act.