Following the NPP-led government’s U-turn on its decision on a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ghanaians have shared varied views about the decision.

The latest to add his voice to the government’s IMF bailout decision is the Deputy Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Isaac Adongo.

He said IMF’s assessment of Ghana’s economy failed to reflect the country’s real fiscal situation.

According to him, the IMF got it wrong when it attributed Ghana’s ailing economy to COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war

In an interview on Accra-based Citi FM, Adongo said « The IMF is managing the situation so that they do not create fear and panic that will further exacerbate the issue. It is very clear that the Ghanaian economy was already suffering internal and external vulnerability before COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war. »

He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s intention to take Ghana to the IMF has plunged the country into the abyss of bankruptcy.

He stated that the NPP should not be forgiven for its comments made against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for seeking an IMF bailout in the past.

Nana Addo and Mahamudu Bawumia
Nana Addo and Mahamudu Bawumia

Adongo said: « It is dishonesty for people who have profited from propaganda; people who have come to power on the back of the deception of the Ghanaian people that going to IMF defines incompetence, to now be turning around to say that we should not have that debate. Didn’t Dr. Bawumia describe John Mahama with unprintable words for taking Ghana to the IMF? »

« I want to say that the NPP should bow its head in shame for bringing us here. They want to now use PR and connive with the IMF to doublespeak. The truth is that they have mismanaged the economy because the IMF has a dossier from 2019 that the country was heading in the wrong direction, » he stressed.

Earlier, the IMF reaffirmed the government of Ghana’s position that the country’s economic hardship is partly a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war.

Pulse