Ghana going to the IMF was a mistake - Kofi Amoah

An accomplished Ghanaian entrepreneur, Dr Kofi Amoah, is not in favour of the Ghana government’s decision to resort to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout to salvage the ailing economy.

The West African nation is expecting about $940 million from the IMF over a three-year period to inject life into a careworn economy.

According to the accredited African partner for the Western Union Money transfer business, “going to the IMF was a mistake” and the programme may not inure to the benefit of the oil-producing country.

The 2016 vice presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia just lashed out at the Mahama-led administration on Tuesday for seeking refuge in the Bretton Wood institution when it could have avoided it.

He said the anchor being sought from the IMF for Ghana’s economy will not hold if the data upon which the programme is built is not credible.

According to the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, there are inconsistencies with the two main sets of data based on which the programme is fashioned – inflation and the GDP.

“Any economic and financial programme is only as good as the data used to formulate the programme. Credible data provides the basis of the analytical framework to respond adequately to economic challenges. If you have make-believe data you will end up with counterproductive or inadequate responses to economic policies. If your data is not credible, the anchor cannot hold. With make-believe data as the basis, the best you can achieve is make-believe results which will soon be exposed as we are witnessing currently,” Dr. Bawumia made the disclosure while speaking on the topic: “The IMF Bailout, Will the Anchor Hold” at a public lecture organised by the Central University College as part of their ‘Distinguished Speaker Series’.

Speaking in an interview with Citi FM, a day after Bawumia’s presentation, Dr Amoah said: “Whether you believe in Seth Terkper [Finance Minister] or Bawumia is not the issue. The fact of the matter is that we’re overly indebted.”

According to him, the country’s major currency, the Cedi, is “devaluing because we’re not producing and exporting enough goods.”

To him, Ghana is not “running an economy but a Ponzi scheme… we can’t say we have an economy when 60% of our budget is supported by development partners.”

He added: “We import about $1.5 billion worth of food every year. This is not acceptable.”