Hold NDC to the facts on economy, IMF bailout – NPP communications director to media

The communications director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has called on the media to hold the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to hard facts on the current state of the economy and the government’s decision to seek support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Reacting in a Facebook post to a recent statement made by the IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, on the sidelines of the Africa Adaptation Summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to the effect that Ghana’s current economic challenges stem not from local decision-making but external or exogenous shocks, Ahiagbah argued that it is time to hold the NDC to the real, hard facts about the Ghanaian economy.

“The inability of the NDC to communicate the causes of the economic challenges facing Ghana is evidence that Ghana would have been worse off if they were in charge of the economy because they would have misdiagnosed the problem. The IMF has spoken now NDC must speak to the facts,” Ahiagbah wrote on his Facebook wall.

IMF bailout
In a related development, the IMF boss, Kristalina Georgieva, has stated that a deal between Ghana and the Fund should be concluded before the end of 2022.

At a closed-door meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday (5 September) in Rotterdam, the IMF chief told the Ghanaian leader that “we understand the urgency, and we will move as quickly as possible”.

“We have started very constructive discussions already and to the people of Ghana, like everybody on this planet, you have been hurt by exogenous shocks,” she said.

Georgieva mentioned the extraneous factors which have contributed to Ghana’s economic woes, leading to the country seeking assistance from the IMF.

“First the pandemic, then Russia’s war in Ukraine. We need to realise that it is not because of bad policies in the country but because of this combination of shocks, and, therefore, we have to support Ghana,” Georgieva said.

She also noted that as Ghana is a member of the IMF, “a strong country with fantastic people”, it is incumbent on the Fund to lend the country support.

Ghana is in talks with the IMF for US$3 billion to help the country navigate through the economic crisis in which it finds itself after experiencing adverse effects from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.