The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Marfo, has said that government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached an agreement for government to roll out its ‘one district, one factory project’ as part of the review of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme.
Speaking to the media in Accra, the Senior Minister said: “IMF has a programme with Ghana, and within the programme are certain restrictions. We have gone to fight for elections and we won based on our manifesto. In our manifesto, we said one district, one factory. So we need some fiscal space to implement that one.
And the IMF knows that we need it. They know that we are in power because we promised certain things. Therefore, we are marrying the two and so far, we have not had any problem. They have agreed,” he said.
He reiterated the need for government to continue to remain committed to the programme despite earlier assertions that government will discontinue it.
“The IMF programme provides market support for countries; it provides some confidence in you as a country and you do not want to give wrong signals to the market out there. When you are going to borrow, your interest rate depends on your ratings. The programme will help for people to put confidence in you as a country, so we must look at these things very carefully and make sure that Ghana does not lose its market value,” Mr. Osafo Maafo said.
Meanwhile, the IMF has expressed some concerns about the economy after it concluded its visit to the country to review the progress of the ECF programme, citing fiscal deficit deterioration as a major worry.
Joel Toujas-Bernate, leader of the mission, noted that: “In 2016, the overall fiscal deficit (on a cash basis) deteriorated to an estimated 9 percent of GDP, instead of declining to 5¼ percent of GDP as envisaged under the IMF-supported program. The large deviation was mainly due to poor oil and non-oil revenue performance and large expenditure overruns. As a result, the government’s debt-to-GDP ratio increased further to close to 74 percent of GDP at end-2016.”
He further welcomed government’s intention to control public spending and protection of the public purse.
“Significant public spending commitments that bypassed public finance management (PFM) systems were reported. We welcome the new government’s intention to conduct a full audit of outstanding obligations, its commitment to transparency and its readiness to take strong remedial actions to ensure the integrity of the PFM systems going forward.
The large financial imbalances of state-owned enterprises in the energy sector also need to be addressed with urgency to avoid the build-up of contingent liabilities for the new government. We welcome the new government’s commitments to encourage its departments and agencies to implement growth-enhancing reforms in a fiscally sustainable manner,” he added.
Source: B&FT
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Instead of being objective you are running politics into national issue and trowing dust into the issues. What has bawemia got to do with this. Don't forget that if Akuffo Addo fails the effect will be on all Ghanaians and generations to come so you better stop the politics and support this nice initiative. Others decided to steal our money to pay wayomi and buy land cruisers for chiefs free of charge. This was a total wastes but some of you supported it silently. It's a shame to have you as a Ghanaian
I welcome the 1 district 1 factory idea of the new government. Let me contribute a little over this plan. I wish the government listens. We are importing too many things from China & countries into Ghana.Now let's look at things that can be produced here in Ghana:as an engineer I will focus on the construction industry first.items that can be produced in Ghana for this industry include: wheel barrows, silicon,nails,ceramic & porcelain tiles adhesive,shovels,trowels,aluminium ladder,helmet,hammer,S100 glue, ***barred word*** Louvre blades,***barred word*** windows Frames,safety boots,paints,polytanks,tower bolts, door locks, chisels,Wellington boots,gloves,water closets,electrica cables,door hinges and handles to mention but a few. If u go into agriculture, the list can be very extensive. The good news is that, the local market is huge enough the patronize all these products. My humble appeal to this government is that when all is set put an Indian CEO on most of these factories & give them an hundred million target with rewards. Trust me they will not run these factories down like a Ghanaian will likely do. If any Ghanaian is made the CEO of let's say factory B, he will also do well because the other Indian CEO competitors can easily be used to truck the performance of the Ghanaian CEO.The the concept of rotating them also comes. All in the attempt to monitor and ensure that chop,chop, corruption & ***barred word*** is minimized. This will ensure higher returns of funs into the various district to support health care education, sanitation and district level project funding.
Why is this man always getting ahead of nana addo? I don't even understand who advised nana addo to give him such a huge position. The way he is running his mouth, he is likely to sabotage nana addo and the rest of the team. There are certain pronouncements which should be coming from nana addo but he portraying himself more powerful than nana addo. Without consultation he told Ghanaians free shs would be funded with the heritage fund, only for the finance minister to rebut that no such decision has been taken. I think nana Addo should fire him, he is making the job difficult for everyone. Anyway, where is barwumia, is he still assigned to be making surprise visits to institutions while osafo maafo is working in his place?
This Akufo Addo/Bawumia/Osafo Marfo government is sweating paaa oooooo. By the way who is the head of the economic management committee of this government? Simpa Panyin Bawumia, we told you that this people hate your tribe. Ayoooooo
I wonder the role VEEP will be playing now.
You are talking too much. You are going to embarrass your government soon. Are you doing the work of the VEEP? The VEEP must be worried silently by now.