Professor Patrick Asuming, an economist at the University of Ghana Business School, has heavily criticized the IMF Programme, stating that it has failed to address Ghana’s pressing economic issues despite being halfway through its implementation.
Speaking on ABC News GH on Wednesday, February 19, Asuming shared his concerns, pointing out that critical aspects of the economy, including currency stability and public finances, have not improved under the programme’s watch.
“The fact that we are more than halfway through the IMF Programme, it is fair to say that we haven’t really made as much progress as we could have,” Asuming remarked.
“After one and a half years of implementation, the currency is still unstable. Public finances are still not in good shape, and the cost of credit is extremely high.”
Despite over a year of the programme, he highlighted that the currency remains unstable, public finances are still in disarray, and credit costs are prohibitively high.
These ongoing challenges, according to Asuming, signal the programme’s inability to bring about meaningful change.
While acknowledging the importance of long-term strategies to address the economy’s difficulties, Asuming emphasized the need to reassess the options under the current IMF deal.
He added, “At the macro economic level, those are the issues we need to deal with,” proposing that Ghana needs to refocus its efforts on production and job creation, especially within the agriculture sector, to stabilize the economy.
