Mr. Prince Obiri Yeboah, a financial expert and economist, has stated that anyone who claims that the first two tranches from the International Monetary Fund had no effect on the economy is being dishonest.
He claimed that such arguments are not sincere.
He said in an interview on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM that the first two tranches have impacted the economy positively.
In his view, without the first two tranches, the depreciation of the cedi would have worsened.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Ghana’s second tranche of US$600 million for immediate disbursement in the first quarter of this year.
The approval of the loan facility brought the total disbursement for the country’s implementation of an IMF-supported Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) to US$1.2 billion.
Ghana expects to receive a third tranche of US$360 million by Monday, July 1, 2024, which will bring the total disbursement to US$1.56 billion.
The analyst believes the first two tranches have yielded some form of positive results despite our difficult economic environment.
He noted that the most important thing we expect is for the economy to remain resilient, with inflation declining and the cedi appreciating more against the dollar.
“If anyone should say that the first two tranches received from the IMF as bailouts have not yielded any results, I will disagree. The first two tranches of the bailout have had a positive impact on the economy. I say this on the premise that the current level of depreciation of our cedi would have increased beyond what we have today if we had not received the two tranches. So for this reason, I will say that the tranches received have helped.
But there is one critical thing we have to be mindful of. I strongly believe we have not demanded a much more comprehensive report from the government on the utilisation of the IMF bailout. This has remained a major challenge for every Ghanaian. We should ask the government critical questions about what the IMF bailout has been used for. What at all can we point fingers to as activities the bailout has been used for? When you demand these answers, the government, through the Finance Ministry, will tell you they were used for budget support. But if it was used to support the budget, it is too broad. For the purpose of accountability, the government should tell us what the tranches were used for.
For example, we should know the specific projects the money was used for so we can all make references to the projects. The government finds it very difficult to identify the specific legacy projects that the money was used for. Until such a time that we make such a huge demand for the leadership to account for our specific usage, we will not move forward as required.
They always hide behind the general budget, and if you examine it, you will realise the money has been used to pay workers, which is not the reason why we applied for the bailout. So for now, I will state that without the bailout, our situation would have been worse,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
