Why submit our budget to the IMF for approval - Kwesi Pratt to government

Veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt Jnr has fumed at the government for celebrating Ghana's exit from the IMF programme, yet still allowing the Fund to dictate the content of the country's budget. Pratt, speaking ahead of the presentation of the 2027 Budget to Parliament on November 12, 2026, by the Minister of Finance, said he was seriously worried and alarmed after reports that the IMF had already approved the budget before it was presented to Parliament and to the people of Ghana. "The budget which is going to be announced tomorrow evening. I was, I was so seriously worried. Why? This is our budget. This is Ghana's budget. And before the budget is released, we are told that the IMF has approved it," he said. He questioned why a government that boasts of exiting the IMF programme would still submit the nation's most important economic policy document to Washington for vetting. "At the time when we are boasting about exiting the IMF programme, if you have exited the IMF programme, why are we submitting our budget to IMF for approval?" Pratt asked. According to Pratt, the IMF's own commentary on the budget proves the Fund already knows everything in it - "what the effect is going to be, they know how much resources are going to be generated and so on." "Who is in charge? Is it the IMF? Is it our Ministry of Finance? I'm confused. We are either under an IMF programme or we are not," he fired. He warned that Ghana must not develop a situation where the IMF is the institution "telling us what to do, is approving what we think and so on." Pratt reminded government of Ghana's long and painful history with the Fund, noting the country has been there eighteen times, with disastrous results each time. "Because we do know we've been there eighteen times. Every time we've come out it's been more disastrous than before we went there. So what's this reliance on the IMF?" he said. Here are the 9 charges court has ordered Adu-Boahene, wife to open defence for He also took on the IMF's claim that it had met government officials and was happy with what government plans to do, asking a question that is now trending: "And the IMF is telling us that they've met government officials, government has told them what they're going to do and they're happy with it. Is it the IMF who should be happy with our budget or the people of Ghana?" Pratt concluded that the report was very alarming and that Ghanaians want the IMF off their backs for good. "So, I was very alarmed when we were reading that report, just very alarming. You understand? We want the IMF off our backs, at least for a change. That's number one."Source: www.ghanaweb.com
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