"Brace yourselves for tougher times" is the warning from Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to Ghanaians.

According to him, the current economic hardship many are experiencing could get worse due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

“Unfortunately, judging from where we are today, there is no end in sight for the Russia-Ukraine war. While we hope for a quick end to the war, we must understand that things could get worse before they get better,” he said on Thursday.

Speaking at the official launch of the Accra Business School’s IT programmes, Dr Bawumia partly accused the previous administration of being partly responsible for Ghana’s economic woes.

While attributing the other 50 percent to external factors – the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19 – the Vice President said, they facilitated government’s decision to return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“Ghana has been hit by a quadruple whammy in the last few years: Energy Sector Excess Capacity Payments, Banking Sector Clean-Up, Covid-19, and the Russia- Ukraine war. If you take out the fiscal impact of this quadruple whammy, Ghana will not be going to the IMF for support because our fiscal, debt and balance of payments outlook would be sustainable.

“Of the four factors, two (Covid-19 and the Russia Ukraine war) were external and the other two (the banking sector clean up and the excess capacity payments) were the result of policies of the previous government,” he noted.

But reacting to this, a former Finance Minister, Seth Tekper has refuted claims that the erstwhile Mahama government is partly to blame for Ghana’s return to the IMF.