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Ghana-IMF meeting
Since July 2022, when the Government of Ghana decided to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance, many varied opinions have been expressed concerning this move with the Minority saying that they have been vindicated because the government should have indicated its intention far earlier than it did.
Since 2017, the Akufo-Addo Administration has been able to manage the country very well, ensuring that GDP growth for 2017, 2018 and 2019 were very impressive. Introduction of policies such as One District One Factory, Planting for Food and Job as well as many other programmes have all put the country on course towards rapid economic recovery. It was thought that this would be the general trend in the ensuing eight to 10 years for the country.
UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS
Unfortunately, this was not to be and the entire world was hit adversely by certain unfavourable economic conditions. These unfavourable conditions brought economic difficulties which made life unbearable for the country.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 which affected Ghana and the rest of the world forced the world to spend huge sums of money to fight the pandemic. President Akufo-Addo made it clear that he would prefer to fight hard and save lives rather than lose these lives. To him, once lives are lost, they cannot be brought back, so it was better to use available resources to fight the pandemic.
Even if all resources are depleted while lives are saved, there would be an opportunity to fight for economic recovery and improve upon the lives of the people in order to bring the standard of living to a satisfactory level. This appears to be what is happening now and this is one reason the government has been forced to go to the IMF for assistance.
HIGH CRUDE OIL PRICES
Another reason Ghana has been forced to go to the IMF is the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war which has brought untold hardships to countries in the world. Crude oil prices rose far above 100 dollars per barrel and countries in the world, both developed and developing, had no choice but to pay for unbearable fuel prices.
In Europe, Canada, America and elsewhere in the developed world, inflation rose very high and made economic life extremely difficult. The situation was even worse in developing countries whose incomes were generally low. In both developed and developing countries, this trend of unfavourable economic life has continued till today.
IMF BAILOUT
As a result, over 100 countries from various parts of the world had to go to the IMF for assistance.
This is the fundamental reason Ghana, like many other countries in Africa, had to turn round to the IMF for economic and financial bailout. Seen in this way, the reason for Ghana’s decision to deal with the IMF is not due to mismanagement of the economy. Rather, the unfavourable external economic conditions are the factors that have pushed the country from its economic growth to an area of unbearable pressure which has forced the government to go for IMF bailout.
COMPREHENSIVE DSA
The Government of Ghana commenced discussions with the International Monetary Fund on Monday, September 26, 2022. According to the government, a comprehensive Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), which is a key requirement for securing an IMF-supported programme is currently ongoing.
This is a necessary requirement to ensure that Ghana’s debt is on a sustainable path. A release by the Ministry of Finance on September 26, 2022, said, “The Government of Ghana is putting together a comprehensive post-COVID-19 economic programme which will form the basis for the IMF negotiations.
The COVID-19 bailout programme has become necessary because Ghana was forced to deplete its entire resources in combating the disease. Having gone through this experience, it has become necessary for government to put down a programme to justify why the country needs a bailout from the IMF.
WHAT IMF PROGRAMME SEEKS TO ESTABLISH
The programme seeks to establish a macro-fiscal path that ensures debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability underpinned by key structural reforms and social protection. The IMF mission that arrived in Ghana on September 26, 2022, is currently in talks with the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana.
If the IMF team leaves the country, negotiations will still continue between Ghana and the Fund until an agreement is reached. It is this agreement that will be implemented by the government of Ghana under the supervision of the Fund.
The Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) is an IMF-supported programme which is anchored in the analysis of a country’s capacity to finance its policy objectives and service the ensuing debt without unduly large adjustments, which could otherwise compromise its stability.
IMF FORMAL FRAMEWORK
To this end, the IMF has developed a formal framework for conducting public and external Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA). This serves as a tool to better detect, prevent and resolve potential crises.
Here, the framework has been made operational since 2002. The objective of the framework is threefold. In the first place, it accesses the current debt situation. Here, it looks at its maturity structure, whether it is huge, small, bearable etc.
Secondly, the framework identifies vulnerabilities in the debt, that is, whether there are loose ends or other conditions that will result in repayment difficulties. This also helps to access the debt situation.
Finally, the framework helps to examine cases where such difficulties can emerge to create problems in terms of the restructure of the debt and whether payment can be smooth or difficult. At the end of it all, the Fund would be able to know the position of the debt of a country.
FRAMEWORK IMF TO DETERMINE DSA
Ultimately, this framework would help the IMF to determine the Debt Sustainability Anslysis of a country and come up with solutions for the way forward. The Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) is not applied to all countries in the same way. The Fund examines each country on case by case basis.
What this means is that two countries may have similar situations but the IMF may apply different programmes to different countries, depending on available conditions and programmes and their justifications. When all these things have been done, the nature of the bailout programme would now be made available to the country concerned.
As of now, no one knows the nature of the programme to be implemented by the IMF. Negotiations would have to be complete before the IMF programme and its conditionalities can be made available. Thus, members of the Minority and their cohorts cannot assume that they know what the outcome would be. If this is the case, then their exaggerations of the situation must stop since it would not serve the interest of anyone in the country.
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THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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