FLASHBACK: Adongo, Kwarteng 'clash' over IMF assessment of economy

Last year, the International Monetary Fund said Ghana's economic crisis was not caused by local factors. The Fund believed that the crisis was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Minority in parliament however disagreed with that assertion.

Kweku Kwarteng and Isaac Adongo faced off in parliament over the claims. Adongo said the crisis was due to the government's mismanagement while Kwarteng charged Ghanaians to avoid critics and support the government to secure a bailout from the Fund.

Read the full story originally published on September 21, 2022 by GhanaWeb

The Chairman of the Finance Committee in Parliament, Kweku Kwarteng and the Deputy Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Isaac Adongo have ‘clashed’ over the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) assessment of the economy.

While Mr Adongo contended that the assessment of the economy by the IMF failed to reflect the real situation of the economy, Mr Kwarteng asked critics of the government’s quest to seek a bailout from the IMF to be measured and support the move.

Ghana returned to the IMF for support and assistance after months of struggle with the economy, cost of living crisis, and is expecting $3 billion from the Fund.

Mr Adongo, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central Constituency in the Upper East Region, maintained that the IMF got it wrong when it attributed the economic woes to COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia invasion of Ukraine because the economy was already in tatters before the two situations.

According to him, the IMF was managing the situation so as not to create fear and panic that would further exacerbate the issue since it was clear the economy was already suffering internal and external vulnerability before the two situations and also accused the government of conniving with the Fund to paint a gloomy picture of the economy.

“The New Patriotic Party (NPP) should not be forgiven for its comments made against the National Democratic Congress for seeking an IMF bailout in the past which is dishonesty for people who have profited from propaganda; people who have come to power on the back of deception of the electorate that going to IMF defines incompetence, to now be turning around to say we should not have that debate,” Mr Adongo postulated.

However, Mr Kwarteng, MP for Obuasi West Constituency, noted that the debate on whether or not the country’s economy was robust for external financial assistance and support was needless and must not be encouraged and wondered why people should be preoccupied with the assessment by IMF.

He indicated that the debate on whether or not the country’s economy was robust for external financial assistance was needless and must not be encouraged and wondered why people were preoccupied with that rather than discussing what was needed for the economy since the economy had been challenged.

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