Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons says government’s plans of using a period of six years to restore debt sustainability throws into question the truth about the IMF negotiations reaching advanced stages.
“Six yrs is of course twice the duration of an IMF program. And using 6 yrs to restore debt sustainability means dragging out the debt service burden. These sound like opening gambits in a negotiation. Will make many analysts doubt that the talks are “advanced” as he says,” Bright Simons tweeted last night.
His comment follows the President’s assurances of government’s efforts to reduce the total public debt to GDP ratio to some fifty-five percent (55%) in present value terms by 2028.
To restore and sustain debt sustainability, the servicing of the country’s external debt is pegged at a minimum of eighteen percent (18%) of annual revenue by 2028, President Akufo-Addo said in an address to the nation on the economy last night.
But Bright Simons argued the government’s negotiation posture at the IMF is problematic.
“The govt wants to use 6 yrs to fix its unsustainable debt & doesn’t want debt restructuring? he questioned.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has assured all Ghanaians that no individual or institutional investor, including pension funds, in Government treasury bills or instruments will lose their money, as a result of the ongoing IMF negotiations.
“There will be no “haircuts”, so I urge all of you to ignore the false rumours, just as, in the banking sector clean-up, Government ensured that the 4.6 million depositors affected by the exercise did not lose their deposits.”