Partner and Financial Advisor at Deloitte Ghana, Yaw Lartey, has advised government to make judicious use of the funds it will be securing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in order to wean itself from bailouts.

According to him, Ghana must learn from other countries who have secured funds from the IMF and are now making greater strides in their respective economies.

Speaking at a Post Budget Forum organsied by UPSA, Yaw Lartey noted that the Industrialisation drive of the country must be well anchored to attain the Ghana Beyond Aid mantra.

“If we don’t use IMF Programme to help us graduate and wean ourselves out of the Fund programmes and structural adjustments, then we cannot operationalise the Ghana Beyond Aid.”

“We should have a plan to graduate from the IMF and the planned graduation is through industrialisation and also ensuring value addition. That’s what will help us graduate from the IMF and then we wean ourselves from international donors”, he added.

Speaking the same forum, a Lecturer at the Faculty of Accounting and Finance at UPSA, Dr. John Amoh joined calls for the revision of the removal of the 100 daily threshold from the Electronic Transaction Levy and some other policy initiatives in the 2023 budget, warning it will make Ghanaians worse-off.

“The introduction of any tax initiative that will make Ghanaians worse-off like the removal of the 100 daily threshold from the E-levy should be looked at. Again, the introduction of this cashless policy by the Ghana Revenue Authority should be continued so as to reduce tax evasion and rake in maximum revenue”.

He argued that if the government is to succeed in its key policies like the Planting for Food and Jobs programme among others, then the minimum income chargeable threshold should be looked at.