Ghana can stop going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help if the country changes its revenue and import structures as well as pursue an aggressive industrialisation agenda to add value to the country’s primary products for export, an economist, Boakye Agyarko, has stated.

He said it also required a reduction in the cost of running government, a critical look at the taxation system, an honest and transparent national leadership to get the buy-in of the citizenry to end the phenomenon of “going back to the IMF for support”.

“So we need to bring the nation along through this difficult journey in order to correct the discrepancies over a period of five to seven years and come into stability, that is the only way we are going to stop the revolving door of the IMF,” he said.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Agyarko, who is also seeking to be the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), explained that, “going to the IMF is not necessarily a bad thing.

The purpose of the IMF is to help you adjust to certain temporary imbalances that one may face in an economy”.

He was speaking on a wide range of issues including proffering solutions to the country going to the IMF for financial bailout.

The other issues are the diversification of the economy, youth unemployment, LBTQI+, party discipline and cohesion ahead of the 2024 general elections.

IMF

 “But I can tell you that this in and out of IMF is neither sustainable nor desirable and we have to stop it by making difficult choices as a nation in order to correct the disequilibrium,” he added.

The NPP flagbearer hopeful quoted portions of a book titled: “Development and the Debt Trap—Economic Planning and External Borrowing in Ghana” by Andrzej Krassowski following a study done on the country in 1952 to buttress his point on the IMF.

He said the study argued that “Ghana’s problem of instability and recurring inflation could be tackled by a planned diversification of export away from cocoa”.

Mr Agyarko stated that there was the need for Ghana to look at how best it could add value to its raw materials for export to also derive the maximum benefit from its natural resources.

He said being able to process the raw materials in the country would also create jobs and have a rub on effect on the national economy.

Cutting expenditure

Mr Agyarko said about 70 to 80 per cent of the items imported into the country could be manufactured locally, hence the need to put our minds there.

“We import about $600 million worth of rice from Thailand, Vietnam among others.

 The quantity of rice we import could be produced in Ghana particularly in the Fumbisi Valley.

From Fumbisi all the way to Soe years ago there used to be the issue of tsetsefly but now it is free…

What prevents us from telling the big rice importers that talk to your principals in Vietnam and tell them they should come and partner you in Ghana to produce the rice here?

We will give them the incentives to do that instead of importing from Vietnam,” he added.

“When the rice importers and their Vietnamese partners are here producing rice, it would have a lot of add on to the economy.

So we have to critically think through what are the things we need to do for ourselves rather than importing,” he stated.

He said as a country, there was the need to look at those systemic imbalances that created the disequilibrium, saying the current economic difficulties of the country can never be solved with IMF bailout.

“I don’t see any solution to our fundamental problem in any of the 65 paragraphs of the IMF report,” he asserted.

“We are jubilating that $600 million has come in and it has opened the door for us to go back to the international capital market to borrow some more .

You cannot live your private or national life on borrowing.

If it is temporary situation it is okay, but if it is a fundamental situation no.

We have to look at the structure of the disequilibrium and say that this is what it is going to take us to correct the situation.

It is going to be tough but it calls for leadership,” Mr Agyarko emphasised.

“We need a national leadership that is going to be honest and transparent to the Ghanaian and say that these are the difficulties we have to go through and adjust and we are all going to share and bear the pains.

If you make it appear that somebody else other than government and government officials are going to bear the pains, they will not come along with you,” he stated.

Unemployment

On youth employment, Mr Agyarko said it has been an issue that has bedevilled the country for very long.

He said when given the nod to become the flag bearer and subsequently the President, he would leverage on agriculture to create jobs for the youth, increase investment in that sector and make it more attractive for the youth to go into it.

 He stated that he would also prioritise Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to enable the youth to acquire hands-on skills to generate employment.

LGBTQ+

On the LGBTQ+, Mr Agyarko said his personal position was against it.

“My core beliefs systems, my fundamental faith, my socio-economic understanding of Ghana and Ghanaians tells me this is not something that should be countenanced whether as private and national policy.”

Mr Agyarko indicated that the debate on the LGBTQ+ was a waste of time and diversionary from more important national issues such as youth unemployment, disability, women and children rights.

Party discipline/ Unity

Mr Agyarko, a former policy advisor of the NPP, called on the leadership of the party to create a level playing field for all the flagbearer hopefuls of the party ahead of the presidential primary to ensure party unity and cohesion.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline