Head of the Political Science Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has hailed government’s decision to go for an IMF bailout but warned it could have dire consequences.
According to Professor Richard Amoako Baah, though the decision “is a step in the right direction; we need to tighten our belts” for tougher economic conditions.
“This IMF bailout will lead to job cuts, higher utility bills and government would be asked to cut its spending,” he predicted.
As part of efforts to revive the ailing economy, government announced plans to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund to stabilize the economy.
The decision announced by President Mahama over the weekend has been met with mixed reaction with critics questioning the rationale for such a decision.
Others have welcomed the news arguing that it would have a positive impact on the economy.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Monday, Professor Amoako Baah said government has no choice than to swallow the bitter pill.
He intimated that, given the economic crisis Ghana is in now, the IMF bailout is only option available to government.
The political scientist noted that, even though it will instill administrative discipline in government’s expenditure, the conditionality he said will gravely affect the citizenry.
He could not fathom why government decided to “wait for things to get out of hand before going to the IMF”.
“Considering the economic challenges, we needed big money to solve the problem and only IMF will give you such money so I don’t know what they were waiting for. If we had gone earlier the situation would have been different,” he bemoaned.
Prof. Amoako Baah said the harm has already been caused thus Ghanaians must brace up for the worse in the coming months.
