We stand by our MD’s comments on Ghana’s economy; major drivers are Covid-19, Russian/Ukraine war – IMF

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it stands by its Managing Director, Kristablina Georgieva’s, comments on the current state of the Ghanaian economy and its major causes.

The Fund’s Director of Communications, Gerry Rice, at a press conference maintained that just like any other economy, the current Ghanaian economy has been pressed very hard by developments in Ukraine as well as Covid-19 shocks.

He, therefore, believes the country’s current situation has been compounded by development which can be described as external shocks.

Rice said this while responding to a question by a journalist during a virtual press conference.

Question: And then also on, on Ghana, same thing, only there’s criticism by former President Mahama of the IMF seeming to praise, to say that the economic problems there are entirely results of COVID and the Ukraine war and seeming to praise the Government. I guess maybe that’s just diplomacy, but can you address that criticism and then, finally smaller country?

 Rice said, “I would say, as just to repeat, the war in Ukraine has triggered a global economic shock that’s hitting Ghana.

Many other countries, and all at a time when, for many of these countries, their room for fiscal manoeuvre, if I could put it that way, is already extremely limited because they’ve used a lot of fiscal power already, firepower already in the pandemic.”

He added, “So, the shock coming from the war in Ukraine compounds other pressing policy challenges. And we’re very cognisant of that. And that’s why we are, as I described at the beginning, stepping up to help countries where we can, and that includes Ghana.”

What IMF Managing Director said about Ghana

The IMF Managing Director in a recent interview with JoyNews’ Benjamin Akapko on the sidelines of the Africa Adaptation Summit in Rotterdam Netherlands maintained that the current challenges facing Ghana cannot be attributed to bad policies by government, but rather external shocks like Covid-19 and developments in Russia and Ukraine.