Dr Cassiel Ato Forson warned Ghanaians to brace themselves for more hardships due to the conditionalities of the $3 billion IMF bailout.
According to the Minority Leader in Parliament, the minority has, on countless occasions, cautioned this government that the fruits of its crass mismanagement of Ghana’s economy through wanton misuse of borrowed funds for consumption purposes had long crystallised into a crisis",
He said their call for the government to immediately seek the Fund's support long ago, a call that was flatly disregarded.
"Let us brace ourselves for the full consequences of this IMF deal, which will without doubt bite hard on Ghanaians, especially the youth. This is not a counsel of despair, but a reality that will soon dawn on all of us," he stated.
"Suffice it to say, that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, as part of their proposal to the IMF to secure this deal, has agreed to increase utility tariffs every three months from last year. So far, since September 2022, electricity tariff have gone up by a cumulative figure of 75.32% (27% in September 2022, 29.96% in the last quarter of 2022 and 18.36% a few days ago), Dr Ato Forson said in a statement.
Dr Ato Forson's statement was released moments after the IMF and Ghana held a joint press conference on Thursday in Washington to provide further details on the $3 billion three-year extended credit facility approved for Ghana.
Meanwhile, the first tranche of $600 million out of the $3billion IMF programme is expected to hit the accounts of the Bank of Ghana today, May 19, 2023, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison has said.
The Governor noted that the money would boost the country’s reserves and the Cedi which is already doing very well in recent times.
