Ghana’s Minister for Finance – Ken Ofori Atta has cleared the misrepresentation of the President’s message on the possibility of extending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) credit programme.
President – Nana Akufo – Addo, during an interaction with the media on Tuesday,  said that the government will not extend the IMF programme when it expires.
Now based on the terms of that facility signed in April 2015, the programme is supposed to expire on the 28th of April 2018.
However, in a later encounter with the press after the President’s media interaction yesterday (Tuesday), the nation’s Finance Minister pointed out that contrary to the earlier information available to the public: the IMF programme will actually expire at the end of the 2018 fiscal year when all such facilities will be reviewed and in this case – ended.
The assertion by the  Minister further raises earlier views by some analyst that, the credit facility was meant to finance government programmes across the three fiscal year captured in it (2015 – 2018) and that although the IMF would no more disburse funds after April 28 next year, the impact of those that will be released earlier will be felt all through that year.
Finally, even though he emphasized that government will not relent on its decision not to extend the credit facility, he however had still not given any specifics on what other funding sources will be used by the administration.
This in effect, places the public in a position of anxiety knowing that in the long-run, the President Nana Akufo – administration would likely turn to them to pay the bills – through taxes.
Perhaps, the government is already asking the Ghanaian populace to pay for its programmes only, through the various bonds initiatives at the moment.