Import Restriction L.I in breach of IMF conditions – Ato Forson provides evidence

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Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, has provided documents to show that government is acting in breach of conditions contained in the current International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout agreement reached last year.

Ato Forson, led an opposition press conference on December 6 rallying the population to resist the passage of government’s Import Restriction Legislative Instrument being pushed by the trade minister.

While the Bill looks to restrict the importation of 22 specific items, opponents insist that there isn’t enough local capacity to cater for the impending shortfall.

Ato Forson, in a social media post, pointed to pages 75 and 76 of the IMF document that read in part: “no imposition or intensification of import restrictions for balance of payments reasons.”

Read Ato Forson’s full post below:

I asserted at yesterday’s Moment of Truth press conference at the headquarters of the NDC, that the proposed Restrictions on Importation of Selected Strategic Products Regulations of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government are illegal under the current IMF program.

Here is the evidence as captured in pages 75 & 76 of the IMF Staff Report. Indeed, the IMF was quite clear that in addition to the specific performance criteria outlined in the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP), Ghana’s current IMF deal includes standard performance criteria applicable to all Fund-supported programs.

One of the quantitative performance criteria clearly states that there shall be *”no imposition or intensification of import restrictions for balance of payments reasons”*

It is instructive to note that this is one of four key performance criteria that the IMF is continuously monitoring. The question is, how can this government be proposing to restrict imports at this material time, to achieve exactly what the IMF frowns upon?

This Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government is so irredeemably incompetent, clueless and reckless to the point of undermining the program it has signed on to with the IMF.

By: www.ghanaweb.com