Former Trade and Industry Minister, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku says government’s decision to seek a bailout from the IMF is an admission of the government's incompetence in managing the economy.

He said the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has “successfully taken our economy back to where we were 20 years ago”.

Government over the weekend announced the decision to opt for an IMF bailout in order to save the ailing economy from sinking further.

The decision to turn back to the IMF and other developmental partners was one of the major resolutions reached after President John Mahama met the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Economy at Peduase last week.

“It’s an embarrassment [and] admission of failure,” Dr. Apraku ruled, while speaking on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Monday.

“It is the incompetence of the NDC that has brought us where we are today,” fumed Dr. Apraku, a flagbearer hopeful for the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

According to him, all the solutions that the IMF will proffer to the country are already well known to the handlers of the national economy.

What is lacking, he argued, is the political will to do what is required to save the economy from its downward spiral.

“Are we not intelligent enough to do these things ourselves? Why do we graduate ourselves from all of this and re-submit ourselves to it?

“It’s an embarrassment and a shame to everyone who has contributed to building our economy including some of us,” he said.

Impact on economy

London-based Financial Times reports the bailout is likely to shake some investors, as Ghana was seen as a model of economic and political stability in the continent. 

However, Finance Minister, Seth Terkper says the decision to turn to the International Monetary Fund is to save the local currency, the cedi from further depreciation and also to advance the confidence of investors in the economy.

“The ultimate objective is to stabilize the cedi in order that domestic prices…will be brought under control,” Mr. Terkper explained.

“When you stabilize the cedi you are also looking at a situation where investors do see a more predictable economy as they bring their investments into the economy. So there are benefits in this for both consumers and the business community”.

“This will be the first programme that we start discussion with the Fund that takes account of our transition from a low economy into an economy that has become a middle income country,” the Minister noted.