Economist, Professor Godfred Bokpin, says the Finance Minister’s recent press briefing on the International Monetary Fund bailout was a good economic strategy to build confidence.

According to him, government’s silence prior to the IMF negotiations had eroded the capital market’s confidence in the Ghanaian economy, contributing largely to the resistance from the market against government’s fiscal policies.

He noted that it was good strategy to regularly update the market to moderate uncertainty, especially now that the economy needs all the goodwill and confidence to grow.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express he said, “Well I wouldn’t say it is premature, I think that it is consistent with economic strategy to regularly update the market. It’s very, very important. But that same – in the spirit of updating the media and the general public, the content, what you put out there, must reflect reality otherwise you may end up actually undoing the credibility that the programme seeks to bring.

“And why am I saying so? Generally you would say that the timing is also appropriate, why? Because the IMF has just concluded their mission to Ghana, their review, they have issued their statement and the rest of that. If you remember, one of the things the Finance Minister failed to do in the run-up to the IMF programme was the lack of update, regularly updating the market.

“And you could see government strategy when it came to covid. With the regular update it helps to moderate uncertainty, but we were not getting that on the economy. So I will say that in terms of the timing and the rest of them I will side with the Finance Minister.”

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in a press briefing on Monday said the IMF programme had started yielding positive results and thus called on all Ghanaians to support the government in its mission to restore fiscal stability.

According to him, the positive outcomes seen so far include decreases in the rate of inflation and treasury bills, improvements in foreign reserve and current account positions, he, however, stressed that “the real work of adjustments, re-alignments and the return to a path of steady economic growth has just begun”.

“Let us brace ourselves for the needed reforms, especially in expenditure control, non-arrears accumulation, revenue growth, ECG collections and Energy Sector reforms, in order to rebuild the walls of the republic with urgency,” Mr Ofori-Atta added.