We Did A Very Diligent Negotiation With IMF – Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has slammed persons alleging that the $3 billion bailout deal secured from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was poorly negotiated by Ghana’s representatives.

Oppong Nkrumah said the people of Ghana and the government of Ghana have done a good job with regard to the negotiation of the programme.

The Member of Parliament for the Bolgatanga Central constituency, Isaac Adongo was the first person to make such allegation.

Mr. Adongo said the press release of the Fund announcing the approval of the credit facility shows the poor work done by the Finance Minister on behalf of Ghana.

But speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi News, Mr. Nkrumah said naysayers had consistently doubted the success of the programme since its announcement, but the hard work exhibited by the government quickened the process leading Ghana to securing a bailout in record time.

“You will recall that when government announced sometime last year that it wanted to reach a staff-level agreement by the end of December, the suggestion was that, it could not be done, thankfully we were able to do it. When the government announced that we were hoping to conclude this deal around May, again, the view was that it can’t happen, but I think, every step of the way, we must give credit to the people of Ghana and the government of Ghana”.

“The government of Ghana and the people of Ghana have actually done a very diligent negotiation with the Finance Minister leading the team. We have done a very good negotiation and the programme is described as a strong programme that leads the foundation for a robust recovery so rather our attention should be the need to ensure that we successfully implement the programme’s parameters and meet the programme’s targets so that the benefits accrue and not a new attempt to make arguments that the way it has been done so quickly, then it must have been a poor negotiation”.