The banking consultant, Dr. Richmond Atuahene, says the incoming administration must keep an eye on the foreign remittance sector to avoid borrowing from the World Bank and seeking assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for US$3 billion.

He also stated that the President must assemble technocrats who can devise strategies to finance the nation’s substantial debts owed to contractors.

“He must appoint people who understand microeconomic issues to help him; that will be a significant advantage. The next step will be financing the debts, specifically the 31 million contractors' debts and energy-related debts,” Dr. Atuahene explained.

“His Excellency must form a team like the one in place in 2010. They need a credible arrears repayment plan so that, maybe within three or four years, the debts will be cleared, and not a new one will be created. If this is done, the challenge becomes surmountable. With the right brains and technical people, they can achieve a lot in four years if they are allowed to help,” he stated on GHOne TV.

He continued, “Even remittances alone will surpass the IMF loan. If we are able to track them properly, we will not need to beg for US$3 billion.”

The banking consultant also advised that Mr. John Dramani Mahama, after his swearing-in as President, must establish a remittances unit at the Central Bank to track remittances.

According to him, while Ghana's foreign remittances are substantial, very little of it passes through the banking sector.

“The first thing I want to advise the incoming President is to strengthen the remittance system or even create a new unit at the Central Bank, as Bangladesh does, where 95% of remittances go through the banking system. In Ghana, we only track about 50%, so the other 50% doesn’t enter the banking system.”

“In 2023, the World Bank reported US$4.7 billion in remittances, but we only tracked US$2.8 billion, so US$1.9 billion is unaccounted for. Previously, we tracked only half of the US$4.2 billion remitted. But if we implement a strong system, we will be able to track more,” Dr. Atuahene added.

“Once we are able to track remittances properly, it will help manage the economy, stabilize the cedi, and reduce inflation.”

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