Going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was a painful decision to take, President Akufo-Addo has confessed.
In an address to the nation on updates to Ghana’s enhanced response to the coronavirus pandemic, on Sunday, 28th may 2023, President Akufo-Addo, stated that “it was a painful decision for me to take, because going to the IMF was not part of the economic transformation agenda I had been pursuing, especially as my government had gone the extra mile to bring to a successful end the IMF programme we inherited from the previous government.”
However he indicated that how things turned up and the realities of the economic crisis setting in, it made him direct the Minister for Finance to start the process for budgetary support from the IMF.
“But who would have imagined that President Akufo-Addo would order the closure of airports, offices, factories or schools. We were in extraordinary times and we took extraordinary measures, and when faced with the realities of the economic crisis last year, I accepted the challenge that the economy required a similar attitude, including the sacrifices many of us have made in recent times”, he said.
In record time, Ghana’s programme culminating in the formal approval by the IMF Board on 17th May has been approved.
“The first tranche of six hundred (600) million US dollars has been credited to our national account, out of the three (3) billion US dollars that we have negotiated to receive within a period of thirty-six (36) months”, he noted.
VIDEO below…