Ghana likely to go back to IMF – Economist

Ghana is likely to return to the IMF, economist Dr. Lord Mensah has said.

According to the University of Ghana Business School Lecturer, if the country continues dwindling in its revenue, and debt continues to go up, it may be forced to subscribe to the IMF programme in the coming years.

Speaking to Starr News Naa Dede Tetteh, Mr. Mensah said Ghana has made a lot of investment in the bid to enhance revenue generation, but the effect is not visible.

He noted “if we continue to realize this dwindling revenue over the years and it continues for about five years, I think we are not far from going to IMF again.”

He explained: “as a country we’ve done a lot of investment in a direction to enhance revenue generation. So I ask myself why is it that all this investment are not building up into the revenue generation. Is it because the investment has been done and there is a large effect that we expect to see in the future?"

"So for me I think that there are so many things are not adding up in the economic indicators that we have in the country. That is why when IMF came they had to caution us as to how our debt is brewing in relation to the revenue that we are generating.”

When asked what the effect of the payment of government salaries had on the economy he said “payment of salaries comes into the economic cycle, salaries build up into output. If salaries are building up into economic output, you shouldn’t struggle."

"If salaries are going into output that you can easily export, you end up having revenue that will even tame your foreign exchange fluctuation. So in the end, for me I think it is not about spending on salaries, it has to do with priorities in our spending and some of the leakages that are in the spending processes.”