Publish full details of IMF bailout plan - ICU

Organised Labour is calling for the disclosure of full details of government’s planned International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

Speaking to The Finder, Secretary General of the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU), Mr Solomon Kotei said the decision by government to seek bailout confirms Organised Labour’s long-held position that the economy has been mismanaged from the beginning of 2013.

He charged government to explain what really caused the sharp decline of an otherwise stable economy as at the end of 2012.

“Other than that, we will be fetching water into a basket,” he said.

Mr Kotei said it was unfortunate that government did not engage Organised Labour, which demanded explanations for the declining economy, as well as other challenges facing the country, before opting for the bailout.

He noted that since some economists are calling for technical assistance from IMF and others are opting for bailout, it would be ideal to have further discussions to arrive at a common position before making the decision.

Mr Kotei stated that no country in the world can boast of an IMF intervention that lifted it out of its problems, primarily because of the conditionalities associated with IMF programmes.

He suspects that the recent removal of subsidies on utilities and fuel were aimed at preparing the ground for a bailout.

The ICU Secretary General said going for an IMF bailout would result in redundancy of public sector workers in large numbers.

This, he said, would happen because the IMF does not lend money to countries to pay salaries, and considering the fact that the Ghana government spends a third of tax revenues to pay salaries, it would have no choice than to lay off workers.

Last Friday, President John Mahama directed that immediate steps be taken to engage the IMF and other development partners to help the country out of the current economic challenges.

He also directed that urgent measures be taken to stabilise the falling cedi.

The President also demanded that urgent measures be taken to expedite the coming on stream of domestic gas supplies to provide cheaper fuel for power generation, as well as minimise the foreign exchange burden of crude oil imports.