Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin, an Economist at the University of Ghana, has called for a renegotiation of Ghana’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme to recover stolen state funds to ease the economic burden on citizens.
Speaking on Morning Starr, Prof. Bokpin emphasised that the current programme is flawed, placing an undue burden on ordinary Ghanaians.
He argued that the current IMF programme is poorly structured and has disproportionately placed the burden of economic adjustment on ordinary Ghanaians.
Prof. Bopkin pointed to the significant rise in inflation, which has surged from 7.9% in 2019 to 23% in November 2023, and the sharp increase in food inflation, as clear indicators of the programme’s failure to protect the most vulnerable.
He stressed that beyond fiscal adjustments, a major focus must be on recovering stolen state funds.
The economist argued that a substantial part of the funds required to ease the financial strain on the country could come from the recovery of stolen state resources, which would allow the government to reduce its reliance on taxes that are hitting citizens hard.
“From November 2023, you realised that there was a misalignment between locally produced inflation and imported inflation. Until November 2023, imported inflation was higher that locally produced inflation but because of the IMF Programme adjustment cost and the numerous taxes that were imposed, you realise that all the cost passing through the financial statement of businesses and households, contributed to a higher cost of doing business.”
“So structurally, by design the programme ought to be looked at again so that wee find nice balance between sharing the adjustment cost with revenue,. expenditure and also prioritising recovery of stolen money through governance reforms, we have to cost that because people who inflict this pain on Ghanaians should not get away with it, only for Ghanaians to come and pay for it”
