IMF conditions crippling Ghana's agric sector - Economist

An Economist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Mrs. Grace Ofori-Abebrese has attributed failure of the agric sector to tough international Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionalities.

According to her, a directive by the Washington-based lender to government against allocating funds to the agric sector is the cause of the sector’s abysmal performance.

“It will be very difficult for the government to over spend against the IMF’s directive, so the government will not resource the sector,” Mrs. Grace Ofori-Abebrese.

Mrs. Ofori-Abebrese who is a Senior Lecturer at the KNUST’s Department of Economics was speaking Monday on Adom FM’s “Burning Issues” programme hosted by Afia Pokua.

Presenting the 2016 Budget Statement to parliament, Finance Minister, Seth Tekper announced that the agric sector grew by 0.04% this year, a figure some analysts have condemned as too low.

According to Mrs. Ofori-Abebrese, next year will be a challenging year for the sector because government will continue to ignore the sector.

“The government must look at how to solve the challenges of Ghanaian farmers to enable them work happily in the sector” Mrs. Grace Ofori-Abebrese recommended.

The Economist also called on the government to work at improving the living standards of farmers across the country to encourage them to do more to enhance Ghana’s economy.

Mrs. Ofori-Abebrese emphasized that a lot of the youth want to enter into the agric sector but because the sector is not attractive and lucrative, the youth are not willing to venture into it.