2024 elections may erode IMF gains if we overspend - Economist

An economist and lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Dr. Agyapomaa Gyeke-Darko, has warned that if care is not taken, government expenditures in the upcoming elections in 2024 may erode the gains from the International Monetary Fund.

According to her, it has been the trend that the country’s expenditures increase during election years.

“Apart from the 2004 election year, the government did an average of around 8.1 percent, so I don’t see that anything is going to be different next year because if you track the data, you would see that every election year, we overspend, it’s a threat to all the actions the government is taking with regards to our fiscals,” she was quoted by myjoyonline.com.

On burden sharing, the economist called for the government’s active participation to ensure that it achieves its targets and also boosts investor confidence.

“We need to see a clear commitment from the part of the government. I thought that when some ministers resigned the government was going to use the opportunity to downsize the number of ministers we have, People say it won’t make any difference but this will send good signals to our investor community,” she stated.

SSD/FNOQ