Today in History: I take full responsibility for IMF u-turn – Akufo-Addo admits

In October last year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took the blame for government's decision to run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance.

This was after government had initially announced that it will not turn to the Bretton Woods institution for support as it was implementing homegrown solutions to revive the economy.

Speaking on OtecFM in the Ashanti region, President Akufo-Addo said, “I take full responsibility for it. But I’m hoping very strongly that by the middle of November, a month from now, these negotiations will be over. We are going to come to a budget for the country in the middle of November."

Read the full story originally published on October 19, 2022 by www.ghanaweb.com.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has for the first time taken the blame for government's decision to resort to the International Monetary Fund for financial support.

This comes after government had occasionally insisted that it would not turn to the Bretton Woods institution for support as it believes in its homegrown solutions until government backed down on its stance on July 1, 2022.

Speaking on Kumasi-based OTEC FM during a tour of the Ashanti Region, President Akufo-Addo on October 18 said the decision to turn to the IMF had become necessary in the face of economic headwinds.

“I take full responsibility for it. But I’m hoping very strongly that by the middle of November, a month from now, these negotiations will be over. We are going to come to a budget for the country in the middle of November," he explained.

“I’m hoping that the IMF negotiations will be over at least substantially so we will have a clear idea of the elements of the agreement with the Fund, which hopefully will be able to feed into the budget and have that drive our budgetary projection for next year and the year ahead," the president said.

“For me, my hope is that we will have a programme of fiscal adjustment. It will take us through most of the immediate budget but then will put us in a position in 2024 to begin the recovery and the growth,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is reported to be pushing for the speedy completion of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for an economic support programme.

Officials from Ghana and IMF have been engaged in the second round of negotiations in the United States of America toward reaching an agreement with the Fund.

Ghana is targeting an amount of $3 billion from the Fund once an agreement can be reached with funds likely to be accessed in 2023.

ESA/FNOQ