You dare not say NDC left a derailed IMF programme, economy under Mahama was robust – Ato Forson

Former Deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, has clapped back at the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, after he said the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) left a derailed International Monetary Fund (IMF) progamme.

Ken Ofori-Atta in an article said the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in 2017 inherited a wrecked IMF programme, a highly impaired and ethically strained financial industry from the NDC.

Responding to Ken Ofori-Atta's writeup, the Minority Leader in Parliament, Ato Forson stated that former president John Mahama left behind a robust economy.

He further said though there was no monetary finance during the Mahama government, the NDC did not take money from the Bank of Ghana despite the law allowing government to take 5% of the previous year’s revenue.

“The Minister of Finance should not say anywhere again that the NDC administration left behind a derailed IMF programme. Clearly, at the time we were leaving office, there was no monetary finance. For the first time in the history of Ghana, the government did not take money from the central bank even though the law allowed the then administration to take 5% of the previous year’s revenue from the central bank,” he said.

Ato Forson added that, “The people of Ghana would recall that because the Mahama administration left behind a robust economy, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government within the first three months of its assumption of office was able to borrow US$2.25 billion from Franklin Templeton”.

“History will remember this Minister of Finance and the government’s Economic Mismanagement Team headed by Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia for taking Ghana to the IMF in an ambulance,” the former deputy finance minister stated.

Ken Ofori-Atta's writeup also followed the condemnation of the Minority in its calls for the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to resign after recording a GH¢60.8 billion loss in 2022.

Whiles defending the BoG Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, the Minister of Finance said the central bank saved the economy from a meltdown in 2022.

Ofori-Atta therefore called on Ghanaians to support the construction of a new BoG head office.

SA/MA