The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has the assistance the government is seeking from the International Monetary Fund will not affect the flagship pro-poor policies of the government.
According to President Akufo-Addo, current pro-poor policies have been at the heart of government since 2017 and remain a non-negotiable part of the country’s public spending and as such will not be affected by Ghana’s re-engagement with the IMF.
Describing it as a relatively light assurance, the President referred to a statement by the Director of the IMF, who noted that an initiative like the Free SHS program cannot be sacrificed on the altar of a program with the IMF.
“So we are all moving in the same direction and I am very, very confident that these programs, especially the FreeSHS program, the FreeTVET program, will come out of the program with the Foundation intact,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo stated this on Friday, August 5, 2022, during an interview with Radio UAR in Bolgatanga, at the start of his working visit to the Upper East region.
“I think there’s something that a lot of people forget. When we took office, we participated in the IMF program in 2017. In fact, before we left the IMF, Free SHS was introduced in September of my first term in office, the full nine months of my arrival under the IMF programme. So this is already factored into the Foundation’s program for Ghana.”
He added that “this (Free SHS) is not something that we had to wait to get out of the program before we launched it. We brought this while we were also under the IMF program and I think it is very illogical for us to have a program that we started under the IMF program and because we are going to have a new program to sacrifice it. It doesn’t make sense, and it won’t.”
On how to ensure that Ghana does not seek IMF bailouts, he noted that the structural transformation of Ghana’s economy from its current dependence on manufacturing and export of raw materials to dependence on value addition and industrialization is the way to go.
“That is why we have focused on the industrial transformation resulting from the 1D1F program and some other targeted industrial transformation measures we have taken in the automotive industry to increase the added value of our strategic mineral resources such as our bauxite, iron ore, etc. . These are the real keys to a future strong Ghanaian economy – that we will have an economy that is self-sufficient in the sense that the basic needs of the people are met by Ghanaian manufacturing,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo continued: “It is therefore important that we in Ghana keep an eye on two factors. To continue the process of structural transformation of our economy that will give us greater independence, a stronger and more sustainable Ghanaian economy, while at the same time taking measures for these exogenous interventions that are bound to happen from time to time,” he recommended.
He reiterated that “the measures we are taking now to strengthen our economy will make it harder and harder for us to depend on and rely on in the future.”
Border infiltration
President Akufa-Addo in his speech also appealed to the people of the Upper East to assist the government and security agencies of the country in curbing border infiltration incidents in the area.
According to the president, the government and law enforcement agencies will need “active public engagement so that we can respond to security as effectively as possible, and that is why the Ministry of National Security proposed the slogan “See, Tell.” which mainly consists in attracting the society, the population to the work of the security forces and special services.”
He continued: “It is much better for us to invest the resources we have in preventing the terrorist threat from entering the country than to fight it once it is here. The cost of this is astronomical in terms of disruption to social activity.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of the Presidency of the Republic of Ghana.
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