The government has assured Ghanaians that its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund will be in the best interest of Ghanaians.
The government is set to meet with the Team from the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday, July 6, 2022.
Some Ghanaians fear flagship programs such as the Free SHS as well as public sector employment will be sacrificed for the IMF bailout.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show, the Information Minister said it is too early to determine which programmes will be scrapped.
He assured that government will not do anything that will further aggravate the plights of Ghanaians.
“We will look at all our expenditure items and examine those we can still deliver at a lower cost. The fact that it is up for examination does not mean cancellation. We have a scenario where this administration has rolled out a number of social protection programmes.”
“We will have to ask ourselves which ones we can still deliver without spending as much as we budgeted. If push comes to shove, and we have to consider which ones we may not be able to move it forward. We will have to consider all these. It is early days yet.
“But we want to assure Ghanaians that the administration will protect what matters to Ghanaians. We are minded to negotiate in a manner to protect what is in the interest of Ghanaians. [We will consider] Programmes that will ensure that people get jobs, and reliefs from the pressures from the Russia-Ukraine war and COVID-19,” he added.
The Ministry of Information on Friday, July 1, 2022, announced that President Akufo-Addo had given approval for Ghana to begin engagements with the IMF for a bailout.
The Information Ministry said Ken Ofori-Atta will be leading the negotiations with the IMF in the coming days.
Following Ghana’s decision to seek an IMF bailout, calls for Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s resignation have intensified.
