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IMF’s only interested in perpetuating a cycle of African dependence on the West – Gyampo

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Political Science Professor Ransford Yaw Gyampo has cautioned Ghanaians not to be overly excited about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) support but rather be concerned it is a move by the West to make African countries including Ghana depend on them in perpetuity.

He insists that there were “low-hanging” recommendations that the IMF could have considered for Ghana.

However, he continued, because of its ulterior motives, the IMF rather decided to release funds to ensure that Ghana continues to be subservient to the Bretton Woods institution.

“In all honesty, it appears the IMF of yesteryears, is no longer the IMF we see today,” he stated in a write-up on Wednesday, May 24.

“They are no longer bold; they are no longer courageous; and they seem to be tacitly perpetuating a cycle of African dependence on the West,” he boldly stated.

“Otherwise, how and why were very low-hanging serious recommendations that would help us quickly turn things around, overlooked? Is the IMF ignorant that we earn just about only five percent of royalties from our gold? Is the IMF not aware that we produce oil and yet earn only just about 13 percent of the oil revenues? Why didn’t they talk about we taxing the extractive sector adequately to raise more revenue for ourselves? Why were they silent on what we must do to stop illicit financial flows? Do they come from countries whose sizes of government are as bloated as ours? Were they coerced to keep quiet about the local and international calls on our government to downsize?” Prof Gyampo wondered.

Find the full write-up below:

An Analysis of the IMF Conditionalities For Ghana.

I have just finished reading the IMF document and conditionalities and the following are the things we must do to secure our 3billionUSD support:

1. Achieve a primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP by 2025 through to 2028

2. Deepen Public Financial Management

3. Accelerate energy sector reforms

4. Strengthen State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) competitiveness and efficiency; and integrate all sources of funds, HRMIS, GHANEPS and Payroll systems into the GIFMIS platform

5. Operationalize our Integrated Tax Administration System

6. Expand GIFMIS infrastructure to 265 IGF- reliant institutions with all the available functionalities

7. Structural Reforms to Ensure Cocobod Financial Viability

8. Finalize the audit of COVID-19 spending prepared by the Auditor General; Prepare new guidelines for Emergency Expenditure Management; Strengthen organizational and legal arrangements for addressing corruption and enhancing accountability and integrity; and Continue to implement and update the National Anticorruption Action Plan

9. Complete the comprehensive public debt restructuring operation launched in December 2022

10. Make good faith efforts to reach a collaborative restructuring agreement through engagement in early dialogue, timely sharing of information and giving opportunity for creditors to input on the restructuring strategy

11. Double the level of benefits of the existing targeted cash transfer program, the Living Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP); and Introduce an indexation mechanism of the benefits under LEAP

12. Develop and implement a strategy to engage Ghanaians and all relevant stakeholders in building public awareness and broad support for the policies underpinning the Fund-supported program.

My View on the Conditionalities

These are measures that may impose some hardships that ideally should be endured, with the understanding that we must all sacrifice in order to turn things around. They are measures that we could have implemented ourselves without receiving them as orders from the IMF. A sovereign nation headed by a regime that touts its credentials of having the men, should have known and implemented these interventions without waiting for the IMF to tell us what to do.

I have a few concerns which I raise as questions. Was this a truly well negotiated IMF deal? Does the IMF truly know what is going on in Ghana particularly on matters of corruption? I ask this because in Ghana, we are always caught in the quagmire of fetching water with basket. Yet, nothing substantial was said to help us check the leakages and slippages. Indeed, in the fight against corruption, the talk about the continuous implementation of a National Anti Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) that exists merely in name by the document, shows that the IMF perhaps is no longer a serious institution. This is because it doesn’t appear there will ever be serious efforts at implementing the NACAP and an IMF that does not know this is bogus.

In all honesty, it appears the IMF of yesteryears, is no longer the IMF we see today. They are no longer bold; they are no longer courageous; and they seem to be tacitly perpetuating a cycle of African dependence on the West. Otherwise, how and why were very low-hanging serious recommendations that would help us quickly turn things around, overlooked? Is the IMF ignorant that we earn just about only five percent of royalties from our gold? Is the IMF not aware that we produce oil and yet earn only just about 13 percent of the oil revenues? Why didn’t they talk about we taxing the extractive sector adequately to raise more revenue for ourselves? Why were they silent on what we must do to stop illicit financial flows? Do they come from countries whose sizes of government are as bloated as ours? Were they coerced to keep quiet about the local and international calls on our government to downsize?

To my mind, any IMF Conditionality that is unable to answer the questions posed above is a mere propaganda that seeks to inflict hardships on the poor; make Africans dependent on the West; and cover up for leadership incompetence and unwillingness to sacrifice.

Let the government be warned that Labor would resist any unnecessary imposition of hardships on poor people without a palpable show of sacrifice on the part of political leadership.

The IMF must know that the Ghanaian is intelligent enough to know when a cycle of dependence is being perpetuated and we will soon resist. If the IMF truly wants to help us, then they must be bold in telling us nothing but the truth so we can wiggle ourselves out of imposed and our self-inflicted hardships. An IMF that fails to do this will deepen the derogatory, (but sometimes deserving) PERCEPTION that reduces it to a spineless organization, staffed by cowards, praise singers and fun-fool respecters of failed African leaders.

Yaw Gyampo
A31, Prabiw
PAV Ansah Street
Saltpond

&

Suro Nipa House
Kubease
Larteh-Akuapim

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Ghana Reports First Oil Output Increase in Five Years With Production Rising By 10.7%

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2 weeks ago

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November 8, 2024

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Ghana has recorded a 10.7% increase in crude oil production in the first half of 2024, marking a reversal in a five-year trend of declining output, according to a report by Ghana’s Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC).

The growth was largely driven by the Jubilee South East (JSE) project, managed by Tullow Oil, which began production in late 2023. This addition to Ghana’s Jubilee oil field helped boost production to 24.86 million barrels by June 2024, compared to a 13.2% decline over the same period in 2023.

PIAC’s half-year report also highlighted a significant rise in petroleum revenue, which surged by 56% year-on-year to $840.8 million by mid-2024. Ghana, a country that began oil production in 2010, depends on petroleum revenue for around 7% of government income. The report further noted a 7.5% increase in gas output, reaching 139.86 million standard cubic feet by June.

Despite the positive trend, Isaac Dwamena, coordinator of PIAC, cautioned that Ghana’s petroleum sector faces both technical and financial challenges. Ghanaian law requires oil companies to allocate at least 12% of project shares to the state, a mandate Dwamena noted can deter investment due to the high cost. “The state can take 15%, 20% carried interest based on negotiations, and that has been a disincentive,” he explained.

To further drive production, Ghana is planning to sell more exploration rights, aiming to harness its fossil fuel resources while also generating funds to support its energy transition. Major oil companies operating in the country include Eni, Tullow Oil, Kosmos Energy, and PetroSA.

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President urges universities to strengthen ties with industries

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3 months ago

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August 23, 2024

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on universities in Ghana to strengthen ties with government, industries, and the communities they serve to ensure that researches are aligned with the needs of society.

That would contribute directly to the realisation of national development goals, he said.

The President made the call at Nyankpala during a ceremony to inaugurate a three-storey multi-purpose building for the University of Development Studies (UDS).

The building fulfills the President’s promise to the UDS during its 25 Anniversary celebrations.

It is named the “Silver Jubilee Building” in remembrance of the President.

The facility boasts of offices, conference halls, lecture theaters, and houses some faculties of the university.

President Akufo-Addo said universities were “breeding grounds” for ideas, researches and innovations that drove the nation’s progress and should remain actively engaged in the development process.

He said government believed in educating the population as the bedrock of a thriving democracy, a vibrant economy and a just society.

The President, thus, outlined some policies implemented aimed at improving access to education at all levels, which included the “no guarantor policy”.

He said the policy had improved access to tertiary education as it had eliminated financial barriers that historically prevented brilliant students from pursuing higher education.

The “no guarantor policy” for student loans increased the numbers of students seeking tertiary education from 443,978 in the 2016-2017 academic year to 711,695 in the 2020-2023 academic year, an increase of 60.3 per cent.

President Akufo-Addo said his government had extended considerable energy and resources to the education sector, recognising it as the most powerful tool to transforming the nation.

He said: “The considerable budgetary allocations within the period totaling some GH¢12.8 billion, amply demonstrates the shared determination of the Akufo-Addo government to ensure that education becomes a catalyst around which the transformation of our nation revolves.”

Source: GNA

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We’ve learnt our lessons; we won’t borrow to finance 2024/2025 crop season

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3 months ago

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August 21, 2024

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The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has announced that it will transition to self-financing for the 2024/2025 cocoa crop season, starting in September 2024.

For the past 32 years, COCOBOD has relied on offshore borrowing to finance cocoa purchases through its cocoa syndication programme. However, the organization is shifting its strategy to reduce dependency on external funds.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, August 20, COCOBOD’s CEO, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, explained that this new approach is expected to save an estimated $150 million.

“Is it good that always COCOBOD should be heard going to borrow? Are we comfortable with that tag? Today, you have heard that COCOBOD is not going to borrow. It is quite a good time for any human being to learn his or her lessons.

“In 32 years, we have learned our lessons and we think that it is high time we wean ourselves from the offshore international financial markets and then finance the crop ourselves here and that is exactly what we are going to do. And I think it comes with a lot of projectory benefits.

“We are looking for $1.5 billion this crop season and looking at the interest rates last year, which were over 8 percent, plus the cost, it means that we can save more than $150 million by the decision not to go offshore.

He also denied assertions that COCOBOD was short-changing farmers with its pricing of cocoa.

“It is not true that COCOBOD is not giving the farmers a fair price. If you follow the narrative, you will notice that from 2017 on, COCOBOD has even been more than fair.

“The government had been more than fair to farmers because this was a time when prices had collapsed but the government and COCOBOD did not reduce the farmers’ price.”

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