By Maxwell Akalaare Adombila
ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana’s President-elect John Dramani Mahama has stated he is not going to abandon the nation’s $3 billion rescue bundle with the Worldwide Financial Fund, however needs to overview the deal to sort out wasteful state spending and improve the vitality sector.
Mahama, a former president who received the Dec. 7 election by a large margin, advised Reuters late on Friday he would additionally search to sort out inflation and foreign money depreciation to mitigate a cost-of-living disaster within the West African nation.
Mahama had stated beforehand that he would renegotiate the IMF programme secured by the federal government of outgoing President Nana Akufo in 2023.
“Once I speak about renegotiation, I do not imply we’re jettisoning the programme,” Mahama stated.
“We’re certain by it however what we’re saying is throughout the programme, it ought to be attainable to make some changes to swimsuit actuality.”
Ghana’s electoral fee declared Mahama, who was in workplace from 2012-16, winner of the presidential ballot with 56.55% of the vote.
The president-elect of the world’s quantity two cocoa producer inherits a nation rising from its worst financial disaster in a technology, with turmoil in its important cocoa and gold industries.
FOCUS ON SPENDING, ENERGY
The IMF deal helped to halve inflation and returned the economic system to development, however Mahama stated extra work was wanted to ease financial hardship.
“The financial state of affairs is dire … and I will put my soul, physique and all the pieces into it and concentrate on making lives higher for Ghanaians,” stated Mahama, whose Nationwide Democratic Congress occasion additionally received comfortably in a parliamentary vote held on Dec. 7.
He stated the “multiplicity of taxes” agreed to as a part of the IMF programme had made Ghana “disagreeable for enterprise”.
“We additionally suppose that (the IMF) haven’t put sufficient stress on the federal government to chop wasteful expenditures,” he stated, including a overview would purpose to scale back spending, together with by the president’s workplace.
“If the president is asking us to tighten our belt, he should additionally tighten his,” he stated.
Mahama stated the IMF had agreed to ship an early mission to conduct a daily overview, including discussions would concentrate on “learn how to smoothen out the debt restructuring” that’s now in its remaining lap.
He stated a revised IMF deal would additionally search sustainable options to the vitality issues to keep away from sustained energy outages.
“We’ll face fairly a crucial state of affairs within the vitality sector. The electrical energy firm of Ghana is the ‘sick man’ of the entire worth chain and we have to rapidly repair it,” Mahama stated.
