The minority party in parliament is asking Ghanaians to prepare for the shocks that will come with a bailout guaranteed from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to the caucus, many conditions could have been avoided if the government had responded to its call to use the Fund earlier in 2022.
They announced this in a statement signed by Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson.
In a May 18 press release, he explained that his faction “has warned this government countless times that the consequences of its mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy through the misuse of consumer loans, long ago crystallized into a crisis.
“We have long called on the government to immediately seek support from the Fund, a call that has been ignored.
The IMF has identified the elimination of tax exemptions, fuel tax adjustments and income tax increases as some of the measures the Ghanaian government can take to increase revenue mobilization under the $3 billion support package. This is included in the Foundation’s May 2023 country report on Ghana’s request for a $3 billion support package.
Based on these and other conditions, Casiel Ato Forson wants the people of Ghana to pay attention to the consequences of the agreement and adjust accordingly.
“Let us be prepared for all the consequences of this IMF deal, which will surely hurt the people of Ghana, especially the youth. This is not desperate advice, but a reality that will soon emerge for all of us,” he concluded.
