Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has criticised those who have claimed that the $3 billion bailout deal secured from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was poorly negotiated, saying that all negotiation processes were diligently executed.
He said the administration and all parties involved had put up their best effort in the negotiating process to get the necessary funding.
Mr. Nkrumah said critics had been doubting the programme’s effectiveness ever since it was announced, but the government’s efforts sped things along, and Ghana was able to get a bailout in record time.
“You will recall that when the government announced sometime last year that it wanted to reach a staff-level agreement by the end of December, the suggestion was that, it could not be done, thankfully we were able to do it. When the government announced that we were hoping to conclude this deal around May, again, the view was that it can’t happen, but I think, every step of the way, we must give credit to the people of Ghana and the government of Ghana,” he said.
“The government of Ghana and the people of Ghana have done a very diligent negotiation with the Finance Minister leading the team. We have done a very good negotiation and the program is described as a strong program that leads the foundation for a robust recovery so rather our attention should be the need to ensure that we successfully implement the program’s parameters and meet the program’s targets so that the benefits accrue and not a new attempt to make arguments that the way it has been done so quickly, then it must have been a poor negotiation,” he added.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released $600 million to Ghana as the first installment of a $3 billion rescue package. Under the IMF programme, Ghana will receive around $3 billion over the course of three years.
