Economist, Dr. Ishmael Yamson, says the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are partly responsible for Ghana’s current economic situation.
According to him, the Bretton-Wood institutions watched on as the government went on a borrowing spree without reprimanding it and putting a stop to the behavior.
He said their annual reports warning of a debt distress were not enough as they should have rather threatened to impose sanctions if their warnings were not heeded.
He stated that their failure to effectively play their oversight role on the country’s economy is partly responsible for the nation’s debt distress situation.
“I have always said that sometimes the Fund and the Bank have to share in the blame because they themselves don’t say it as it should be said,” Dr. Yamson said on PM Express Business Edition.
“They were aware, long time, that the government was doing things that would push this country into a crisis. And I can tell you that the crisis that we have today I haven’t seen it all my life in this country. Never. If you go back and look at the statistics, here’s nothing like this before.
“Yet, every year they issue the report and they say to government but they’re not firm enough to say ‘look, we can see the trend taking you this way and we will apply sanctions if there are any such things.’
“But I believe that the Fund and the Bank have a greater responsibility also to themselves because I know they don’t want Ghana to fail. And if they don’t want Ghana to fail then they must behave in a way that pushes Ghanaian government. I mean why?
“When we were borrowing literally every year were they not aware? All that they’ll put in their report is that the excessive borrowing will lead you to debt distress, simple sentence. And beyond that what else did they do? Did they say to government stop? Never,” he said.
