General News of Saturday, 3 June 2023

Source: classfmonline.com

IMF's 3-year bailout not enough to see Ghana through economic crisis - Economist

Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister

An Associate Professor of Finance at Andrews University School of Business Administration in the United States of America, Prof Williams Kwasi Peprah, has said Ghana's three-year extended credit facility deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not enough to see the nation through the economic problems.

According to him, the nation should have gone for a five-to-seven-year programme.

He added that by the end of the three-year programme, the government will be eyeing another IMF programme.

He noted that “from the document given by the government, by the time the programme ends in 2026, our debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is expected to be around 76 per cent” and the nation “will still not be financially sustained [and] we still have to go for another programme”.

Speaking at a public lecture on the IMF bailout organised by the Christian Service University College at Kumasi in the Ashanti Region on the theme: ‘Ghana, the 'fallen angel' shall rise: lessons from the IMF bailout’, Prof Peprah was of the view the government could have gone in for a longer programme which could have turned the economic situation around for the country.