Government of Ghana’s loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was not approved by the country’s parliament, according to Dr. Anthony Osei Akoto, Minister-designate for Monitoring and Evaluation.
He argued that the previous administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by former president John Mahama surreptitiously signed the agreement with the Breton Wood institution without parliamentary clearance.
“Even though the IMF programme was signed by government, it was never approved by parliament… It is an executive arrangement between the government and the IMF, but the people of Ghana did not approve of it,” he told Accra-based Citi FM on Monday.
“We raised the issue and we threatened to go to court, we didn’t go but it is still an issue. It is in the interest of the IMF that this type of thing is not done without parliament,” he added.
Ghana under the NDC administration entered into a 3-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Programme with the IMF, for a total support of US$918 million in 2015.
The objectives of the programme was to restore debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability to foster a return to high growth and job creation through agriculture and infrastructure investment, while protecting social spending; strengthen the BOG’s monetary policy framework, while taking measures to ensure its full effectiveness; and rebuild external buffers.
The NPP administration is likely to renegotiate Ghana’s deal with the IMF.
According to Dr Osei, a “programme that runs any period of time will certainly come up for renegotiation either from government or the IMF. If the IMF finds out that we have met some targets, they will call for renegotiation.”
