Akufo-Addo govt secured worst IMF deal for Ghana – Ato Forson

The Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, says the Akufo-Addo government has taken an unenviable place in Ghanaian history for being the government that signed up Ghanaians to the worst form of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Dr Ato Forson says “Ghanaians must clearly understand that it is not the IMF which imposed these horrible conditionalities and austerity on them” but “rather the government of President Akufo-Addo and the economic mismanagement team, led by Alhaji Bawumia, imposed them on the Ghanaian people”.

The Minority Leader made the point when he presented the Minority’s response to the 2023 mid-year budget review in Parliament on Wednesday.

Dr Ato Forson said Ghana’s current IMF programme is the first in the history of the country to have come with debt restructuring.

The Minority Leader said “This same debt restructuring has rendered our banking and financial institutions insolvent and bankrupt”, adding that “almost all our banks, non-bank financial institutions and insurance companies declared huge losses in 2022 as a result of government’s recklessness and mismanagement which resulted in this debt restructuring”.

Dr Ato Forson said Ghana “is in distress, our people are in despair and most Ghanaians have lost hope in this incompetent NPP administration”.

These hardships are needless”, the Minority Leader pointed out.