Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper says Ghana's job creation drive was significantly slowed by debt distress and restrictions under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme inherited by the Mahama administration.

Speaking on PM Express Business Edition on Joy News on Thursday, government's economic advisor argued that while there were clear plans for jobs, the economic environment limited what the government could do in its early months.

“If you look at the NDC manifesto, there’s a plan to create jobs already. But when you come into an economy where, under the IMF program we inherited, compared to what we handed over, all you can do is borrow T-Bills.

"You’ve been shut out of your own domestic bond market, which we set up. You’ve been shut out of the external bond market because you’ve defaulted. You’ve that’s because you’ve defaulted. You imposed haircuts, you suspended debt, and then we started paying the suspended debt.”

He said these constraints forced government to prioritise stabilisation over investment.

“I’m saying that in comparing the fact that the government has been in office for one and a half years, you have to look at what government was doing. Government is rapidly taking corrective measures, but that has delayed the investments that had to be done in the real sector.”

According to him, this delay directly affected the pace of job creation, as capital-intensive projects could not take off under such tight financing conditions.

He, however, noted that conditions are beginning to improve, with renewed access to longer-term financing.

“And I’m saying that now that even the IMF and others have acknowledged that we can go back to a bond market…if you want to borrow to do infrastructure, it’s not for three months.”

Mr Terkper maintained that the difficult measures taken were necessary to halt further economic decline and restore confidence.

“We have had to do serious corrections in order that we don’t continue falling into the abyss. Now we are climbing up, and, therefore, you are hearing about money being released for capital projects; we are being able to borrow for a longer period, and our ratings have gone up.”

He stressed that the recovery would not come at the cost of fiscal discipline, even as government begins to unlock funding for development.

“It doesn’t mean that we are going to be reckless about it, but you can see the very job creation agenda that you’re talking about coming out for Agenda 111, the Big Push and all of those things, they are beginning to show.”