$3bn IMF Deal: The ‘honeymoon’ is over, get to work – Bokpin tells govt

The government has a lot of work to do to ensure swift economic recovery following the approval of the $ 3 billion deal by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a Professor at the University of Ghana Business School, Godfred Bokpin has said.

He said the government must get over the ‘honeymoon’ quickly to work.

Prof Bokpin was commenting on the update that was given by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on the programme. The Finance Minister had indicated that the programme significantly paved the way for the implementation of an ambitious and well-thought-out programme of reform for our economy and country.

“In fact, the real work of adjustments, re-alignments and the return to a path of steady economic growth has just begun,” he said while providing updates on the deal at a press encounter on Sunday.

The approval was secured on Wednesday, May 17 with the first tranche of $600 million received.

The Finance Minister stated that “Let us brace ourselves for the needed reforms, especially in expenditure control, non-arrears accumulation, revenue growth, ECG collections and Energy Sector reforms, in order to rebuild the walls of the Republic with urgency.

“That said, our reform programme, the Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth
(PC-PEG), now supported by the 3-year Extended Credit Facility arrangement with the
IMF, is built on clear targets and strong policy and structural measures.”

Reacting to this on the Business Focus with Paa Kwasi Asare on TV3 Monday, June 19, Prof Bokpin said “I am also happy that one and a half years down the line we are all singing the same song that we needed the IMF program and precisely what the government failed to do and ti act proactively.

“If the government had signed up for the programme in the 3rd Quarter of 2021 I don’t think Ghana would have gone through this kind of disruption that we have seen from the last quarter of 2021 till when the programme was approved.

“If you look at the reaction of the currency from when the programme approval was announced and now you can see that the honeymoon of is over, now we have to get to work, there is a lot of work that we have to do.”