The Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cautioned the government to be "very conservative about the assumptions of oil prices and oil revenues in the next year's budget". According to the fund, there were a lot of uncertainties in the oil market and the global economy and it would be wise on the part of the government to be very conservative about what projections it made in the coming year's budget to avoid any shocks when things did not go according to its plan. The Executive Director of the IMF for Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Algeria, Ghana, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan and Tunisia, Mr Mohammad Jafar Mojarrad, gave the warning when he answered questions from financial journalists at a news conference at the Bank of Ghana in Accra on what the government should do to ensure more economic benefits from the oil. Since the discovery of oil in the country a couple of years ago, past and incumbent governments have banked their hopes on the revenues to be accrued from the "Black Gold" to transform the economy to meet the aspirations of the people. Projections are being made as to how much could be accrued on an annual basis usually without considering the fact that oil prices are not stable and are mostly very unpredictable. The caution to the government is, therefore, timely, and Mr Mojarad believes that the experiences from other countries which have been very well documented and presented to the government for a thorough study would guide it in making projections. The IMP Executive Director also raised the issue of expectations of the people and asked the government to do well to manage it to avoid any unexpected disappointments when projections are not met. At the recent Graphic Business Roundtable to discuss Ghana's oil find, similar sentiments were raised and suggestions on the management of expectations were also made. According to the renowned speakers at the roundtable, experiences from other countries on how the expectations of the people were managed could serve as a guide for the government to ensure that the country is not thrown into a state of anarchy when the projections made are not realised. Again, as participants at the roundtable suggested, Mr Mojarrad advised, the government to save part of the money from the find for future generations. "Part of the dividends should be saved for future generations so the government should not expend all the revenues that accrues to it today so that there would be, nothing left for the future generations", he said. He added that it would be wise if the government sets up a stabilisation fund to save part of the oil proceeds for development projects "because Ghana is a developing country." On the economy, Mr Mojarrad said the policies of reforming the economy were showing positive results at the macroeconomic level. He mentioned the drastic reduction in inflation from above the 20s to below 10 percent within 18 months and urged the government to continue with its "prudent management style to further improve the economy". Source: Daily Graphic