IMF bailout: No job cuts – Ghana Gov’t

The Ghana government has allayed fears that there will be massive job cuts in the public sector when the International Monetary Fund’s bailout succeeds.

A team from the IMF is in Ghana to begin talks on a possible IMF-supported programme aimed at injecting oomph in the economy of the West African country as its local currency – the Ghana Cedi – depreciates against major foreign legal tenders.

The main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has expressed fears that several people will lose their jobs as part of the conditionalities of the Breton Wood institution to heal Ghana’s ailing economy.

However, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has rubbished the claims, arguing issues of job cut have never surfaced during the talks.

Former Deputy Finance Minister George K. Ricketts-Hagan believes the NPP’s stance is aimed at throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians as well as sparking panic among public servants.

He said the young oil-producing country has been a member of the IMF for decades and does not “see where this is coming from.”

“We’ve been a member of the IMF… what we are going to do with the IMF is to enhance our home-grown policies,” Ricketts-Hagan clarified on private network Joy FM.

“We have a long relationship with the IMF so I don’t see where this is coming from. We have been engaging the IMF since, and now we want to go for a funded programme and I don’t really see where the problem is.”

He added: “We are preempting the IMF discussion with unnecessary panic. The IMF has not said we should lay people off. The right things will be done and does not mean we are going to cut work force. It is not on the table as we speak.”