IMF bailout: Gov’t going to IMF for loan, not aid – Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Ghana Beyond Aid mockery

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has insisted that government’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to secure a ‘loan’ and not ‘aid’.

On Friday, July 1, 2022, the government in a press release from the Information Ministry announced that it has started engagements to receive support from the IMF in the midst of the dire economic situation of the country.

Amid mockery that the move makes nonsense of the Ghana Beyond Aid mantra of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has argued that it is misinterpreted.

Speaking to GTV on the Breakfast Show on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, the Minister of Information explained that what the government is hoping to get from the fund is a loan and not aid.

“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,” Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stressed.

The Information Minister further explained, “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.”

Following the arrival of an IMF team in Ghana on Tuesday, in-person discussions with a team from the government of Ghana will officially commence today.