Former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, has urged government to consider going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout but adds it must be negotiated well.
The opposition National Democratic Congress had advised the government to go to the IMF in order to salvage the economy from collapse rather than banking on its hopes on the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy).
Government has however rejected the suggestion.
Speaking to Nana Aba Anamoah on Starr Chat as quoted by Starrfm.com.gh, Dr. Duffuor reiterated the need for the government to act fast with the IMF option before the economy gets bad.
Dr. Duffuor said during his tenure as Finance Minister he took the nation to the IMF adding that economy was not bad “as it is now and the cedi depreciated by only 60 pesewas.”
“There is no problem with the IMF program and unemployment has come down. The fear is that if we get to the IMF program they will not let us employ citizens. But this depends on what you negotiate, we were employing people in the health sector and the education sector.
“Otherwise, unemployment could not have dropped to 2.2, otherwise the cedi could not have been so stable for over four year period and our economy could not have grown so high. The GDP was first class,” Mr. Duffuor disclosed.
He continued: “So I don’t think the problem is with the fund per say but the nature of the program must be looked at carefully. You have to negotiate properly.
“Because right now, yes the economy has done well at 5.5% GDP growth even-though we were expecting more than that. The budget deficit was supposed to be 12%, inflation is above 27plus. The cedi since January has gone down by 15% and our debt to GDP ratio is also not good.”
The former Governor for the Bank of Ghana said “IMF can’t destroy our economy because during my time we were under the IMF and our growth was the best.”