Ghana Beyond Aid Still Relevant, We’re Only Going To IMF For A Loan – Oppong Nkrumah

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Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has insisted that the decision by the government to go for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, does not belittle the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda as is being asserted.

According to him, the government is going to the IMF for a loan which it will pay back with interest and not for a grant or a freebee.

The minister further explained that, ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ is about the country breaking its overreliance on foreign aid, particularly its reliance on foreign support for key sectors of the economy like education and agriculture.

“’Ghana Beyond Aid’ is still relevant. What we are going to the fund for is not aid, it’s a loan. So, it doesn’t change the principle of Ghana beyond aid. Loan is not aid. Loan can never be aid. We are going for a loan which we will pay back.

“We will mobilise our domestic resources, put it into the productive sectors, grow the economy, when the GDP comes, we have to pay a certain percentage of it to the treasury so that we can service those debt obligations.

“The vision of Ghana Beyond Aid is that we should get to the point where we are able to mobilize our own resources to do the things we are looking for and not rely on aid from other countries,” Oppong Nkrumah said in a GTV interview monitored by GhanaWeb.

Meanwhile, Pressure group, OccupyGhana has bemoaned the decision of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government to return the country to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

The group indicated that going to the IMF for a meagre $2 billion is a shame and will solve nothing since the main issue affecting the development of the country is corruption which successive governments have failed to address.

In a statement issued on Friday, July 8, 2022, OccupyGhana suggested that the $2 billion bailout that the government is seeking is even likely to go into the pocket of private individuals since corruption in Ghana is so pervasive.

“That is why this return to the IMF for a ‘paltry’ $2B leaves a bitter taste in our mouths. We would not be submitting ourselves to this forced and humiliating ‘Ghana [is not yet] beyond aid’ position if we had prevented the losses and thefts in the first place. In the second place, we would not be here if we had taken the simple steps of recovering the monies lost and stolen,” portions of the statement said.

By: ghanaweb.com