IMF Bailout: For How Long Will Gov't Continue To Ruin Ghana? - Atik Mohammed Asks

Atik Mohammed, Policy Analyst of the Insight newspaper, has called on government to cut down on its expenditure in order to salvage the economy.

Speaking on Peace FM's flagship programme "Kokrokoo", Atik Mohammed advised the Government of Ghana to check the way its borrowing character and the huge expenses it has been incurring.

According to Atik Mohammed, Ghana's bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would not bring relief to the Ghanaian populace.

He recounted that the IMF approval of a three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility for Ghana to a tune of US$ 918 million would compound the plight of the citizenry, simply because Ghana's imports exceed its exports.

He further explained the IMF credit is not to help transform the economy and so urged members of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) not to gloat over the first tranche of an immediate disbursement of SDR 83.025 million (about US$114.8 million) to the country.

If I were an NDC member, I would rather be very worried,” he said.

Atik Mohammed bemoaned the excessive borrowing nature of successive governments and therefore hoped the nation manages its own affairs.

For how long will we continue to ruin the economy? And after it’s ruined, we go to the IMF because the IMF is always there. I think it’s about time we call a spade a spade. As a nation, we should begin to manage things the way we can and the only way we can do that is to stop reckless expenditure and all this loan addition," he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.