“IMF programme for Ghana is not broken” -Minister

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme for Ghana is not broken, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, said here today.

He said the Ministry has had some disagreements on certain issues but the programme is not broken, but it is on-going. The Minister was answering questions from Senior Journalists at a press briefing here today.

He said crude oil was the achiles heels of the economy, saying that anytime there was instability or tension in the Middle East, it affected the nation's oil situation.

He said the petrol situation should be looked at realistically, adding "we cannot continue with the subsidy on petrol. We can do it for a while but certainly not for long."

Mr Osafo-Maafo said lottery in every country was a source of revenue for government. He said after privatising lotteries the nation was not gaining good revenue.

"We want to have a situation where lottery is the exclusive preserve of government," he said. According to him, monies from lotteries should not be put into private pockets, but rather lottery revenues should be coming to government.

Asked why state institutions like Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) were to be divested when they were making profits, the Minister said the dividends paid to government by some of these financial institutions like GCB and the State Insurance Corporation (SIC) were "very little as compared to the assets they have."

The Minister said "GCB is making profits but the return on assets is little as compared to the Standard Bank." He said there was the need to inject more efficiency into these state institutions and organisations.

According to Mr Osafo-Maafo, the SIC lost 58 billion cedis through guarantees, that was why the company brought little dividend to government.