The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has advised government to abandon the three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and stick to home-grown policies to address the country’s economic challenges.
“Government introduced the IMF programme in 2015, but these policies are not working. Ghanaians are getting poorer every day under the IMF programme. We, therefore, urge you and your government to abandon the IMF programme,” General Secretary of the TUC Kofi Asamoah admonished.
Mr Asamoah, who was speaking at the 10th quadrennial delegates’ congress in Kumasi, said Ghana’s economic conditions were dwindling and the IMF programme could not solve those problems.
The congress was held on Wednesday August 10 under the theme: ‘Building workers’ power for decent work and national development.’
To him, “The economy is still weak and has had very negative effects on our living standards across all socio-economic groups in the country. A significant number of our compatriots are suffering from extreme levels of poverty”.
He added: “IMF programmes have never worked anywhere and will never work here [Ghana].”
Ghana signed up for the programme in April 2015 after fiscal challenges triggered a 12 per cent over-expenditure.
The country received an initial $144.8 million in April 2015 and a second tranche of $115 million in August. The country is expecting a third tranche of $116million being part of the $918million credit facility.
However, a member of parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, said recently that the IMF could even cancel its agreement with Ghana.
“From where I sit and how I see things, the IMF has technically suspended the programme with the country,” he stated.
This, he said, was due to government’s failure to abide by the rules of the agreement with the IMF.
Source: ClassFMonline
