Ghana’s Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyerematen is hopeful Ghana’s ailing economy will bounce back soon.
The seasoned politician, who is a specialist in the Trade and Industry sector, detailed the road map to the recovery of Ghana’s economy ahead of an imminent bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In an interview with Paul Adom Otchere on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana (GEG) program, Alan Kyerematen said government activated its recovery program in the pre-covid and post-Covid-19 era only for uncontrollable external forces to send the economy crumbling.
Describing the causal factors as force majeure, the Trade and Industry Minister pointed to the positive growth of the economy between 2017 and 2019 as enough reason to trust the leadership of the government to sail through the latest bailout.
Mr. Kyerematen explained that the factors that took the current government to IMF and that of the erstwhile NDC are completely different and that the already existing program tabled by the government will lessen the burden on Ghanaians.
According to the Minister, the IMF is there to assist member states that needed technical and or financial aid to help them to stand on their feet again.
In his opening speech on the Good Evening Ghana programme, the Minister said, “there is the need to discuss this issue (Ghana’s negotiations with the IMF) dispassionately and with real facts”.
He then highlighted the tangential growth of the economy that saw the economy shore up reserves at the Central bank, taming inflation, reducing debt to sustainable levels and creating trade surplus which resulted in more exports over imports in the first 18 months of the government.
To confirm the causal factors of the sudden crumble in the economy, the Trade and Industry Minister said external forces should be blamed for the sudden crushing down of an economy which, as recent as May 2021, was showing signs of upward growth and resilience.
When asked what could be the main cause of Ghana’s return to the IMF despite initial claims by members within government that the country was not heading to IMF again, Mr. Kyerematen cited the impact of Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its effects on economies throughout the world.
Ghana has already started the process of getting a two billion dollar package from IMF to help complete the economic revival package put together by the Economic Management Team (EMT).