{"id":113406,"date":"2015-05-03T12:12:04","date_gmt":"2015-05-03T12:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=113406"},"modified":"2015-05-03T12:12:04","modified_gmt":"2015-05-03T12:12:04","slug":"imf-deal-wont-automatically-transform-economy-mahama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/05\/imf-deal-wont-automatically-transform-economy-mahama\/","title":{"rendered":"IMF deal won’t automatically transform economy – Mahama"},"content":{"rendered":"

President John Dramani Mahama has indicated that the 940 million dollar bailout<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>government secured from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will not automatically transform the country\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n

The government recently received $940 million from the IMF to help stabilize the cedi and reduce the fiscal deficit.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”ntL5AmovmzlT72x80nTQGr1lQ02MPzS3″]Some analysts have said the money will not be enough to fix the struggling economy.<\/p>\n

The President however believes Ghana’s economic transformation is largely dependent on Ghanaians and not international partners such as the IMF.<\/p>\n

“The repair and growth of the economy depends on ourselves[Ghanaians] and not our bilateral or multilateral partners.The IMF has no magical wand to repair our economy. We can achieve a balanced budget and a growing economy only in an atmosphere and environment of fiscal discipline.”<\/p>\n

Apart from the President, the Dean of Graduate Studies at the Methodist University College Ghana Professor Kwadwo Ewusi has made similar comments on the IMF deal.<\/p>\n

Prof. Ewusi said Ghana\u2019s economy will not grow beyond 3.5 percent, in spite of the financial bailout.<\/p>\n

According to him, the impact of the fund’s programme on the economy will not be immediate.<\/p>\n

In spite of the gloomy picture about the IMF deal, The President \u00a0listed other austerity measures government is undertaking in the short term to salvage the ailing economy.<\/p>\n

“I have made a firm commitment to maintain discipline in our expenditure even in the phase of an impending election next year. This will require sacrifices on our part especially when the major agreement with the fund is to restrict central bank financing of the budget to not above 5 percent this year and to 0 percent for the next year.”<\/p>\n

Click on audio to listen to President Mahama<\/strong>
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