IMF talks: Presidency must cut budgetary allocations – John Mahama

Former President, John Dramani Mahama has opined that budgetary allocations made for the Presidency must be cut as government holds negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for an economic support programme. According to him, the move would show to the citizenry that the highest office of the land is keen on making sacrifices during harsh economic times. Speaking in an interview on VOA’s Straight Talk Africa programme, John Mahama said, “If the President himself is cutting the budget of government machinery, then everyone must be prepared to make a sacrifice” He however called for an end to the country’s continuous resort to the International Monetary Fund whenever it is confronted with economic headwinds. “This government has twin problems. One is macroeconomic instability because expenditures far exceed revenues. Revenues are not performing properly. The second thing is also that they went on a borrowing spree and they have pushed our debts to levels that are unsustainable." “Just recently the World Bank came and said we had almost 104 of debt to GDP and so we have twin problems. One to achieve fiscal consolidation and two, to bring debts back to sustainable levels. So that is what they are faced with,” he submitted. The former president said government must begin to implement sustainable home-grown policies which seek to create jobs, particularly for the youth. “You can implement a home-grown fiscal consolidated policy, but unfortunately, a lot of local and foreign investors will probably doubt that you can live by the promises that you make unless you have an institution like the IMF working with you,” he opined. Meanwhile, officials from Ghana and the IMF are holding the second round of negotiations in the United States of America geared toward reaching an agreement with the Fund for an economic support programme. Ghana is targeting $3 billion once an agreement can be reached with funds likely to be accessed in 2023. At the moment, IMF officials and Ghanaian authorities are working towards assessing Ghana’s debt sustainability. MA/FNOQ