President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo speaking during a session of Qatar Economic Forum.
Doha, Qatar: President of Ghana H E Nana Akufo-Addo has said his administration will be disciplined in implementing its deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), including increasing domestic savings and reducing government expenditure and encouraging private sector investment after the West African nation secured a $3bn funding package from the UN financial agency.
The 36-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) is based on the government’s Post COVID-19 Program for Economic Growth (PC-PEG), which aims to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability and includes wide-ranging reforms to build resilience and lay the foundation for stronger and more inclusive growth.
“We believe that it is going to provide us with the foundation for redirecting and repositioning the economy,” Akufo-Addo, whose country has suffered an economic downturn recently, told the Qatar Economic Forum (QEF) in Doha yesterday.
“Firstly, we have to regain the macro stability that had been lost—secondly, better control of important data like interest rates and inflation. Finally, to position us to go back into the international capital market, which had been a source of funding for us for the first 3 or 4 years of our government,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo added that Ghana secured funding for the programme in a record 10 months compared to other countries, calling criticisms of the process valid.
“I think there’s a lot of validity in the criticism about the period involved. In our case, the 10 to 11 months from the time we approached the IMF in July last year to the May result is a relatively speedy exercise as far as that’s concerned. The 10 months for the Ghanaian programme is one of the fastest on record,” Akufo-Addo said.
Speaking on how to diversify Ghana’s economy using cocoa as an example, the president said despite making progress in production, the country still faces significant challenges in producing chocolate. The president dismissed child labour claims in production and stressed that Ghana would meet European Union (EU) regulations. Ghana and Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producers, have faced intense criticism from Western countries, including the EU.
Akufo-Addo emphasised that Ghana is willing to partner with markets in Asia which represents a new huge market.
“They all represent a huge new market, and we’re making systematic efforts to introduce Ghanaian cocoa into those markets and penetrate them. We have to do that -- we can’t be reliant on only just one outlet.”
He added that Ghana is looking at increasing production in tree crops, cassava, mango, soya beans etc, as part of its diversification drive. He also noted that the country is battering gold for oil which helps impact dollar outflows and stabilises the prices it pays for oil.
