The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has indicated the government is on the verge of concluding negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“The IMF negotiations are ongoing. We are close to concluding them,” he said yesterday, during a meeting at Jubilee House with the leadership of the Private Enterprises Federation.
According to the President, the deal is part of the measures that the government is taking to save the economy.
The President noted that this program, if it materialises, will assist the country in restoring micro-economic stability to the economy and help the country restore its micro-finances. According to him, the programme will also help to strengthen the economy.
STAKE HOLDS ENGAGEMENT
President Akufo-Addo, since yesterday, has engaged about eight stakeholders at Jubilee House to brief them on where the government has reached with its measures to solve the economic challenges.
These groups were the Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana Association of Banks, GPRTU and Transport Operators, Forex Bureau Association of Ghana and Market Women.
The rest were Ghana Employers Association, Private Enterprise Federation and Trades Union Congress.
The President, in the meeting with the Private Enterprise Federation indicated that he felt before the final program with the IMF, he should have these engagements with the various stakeholders of the economy.
He explained that it was to also have an idea of their concerns and to see to what extent those concerns could be addressed in the actions of the government.
GHANA EMPLOYERS ASSOCIATION
Addressing the President yesterday, the Ghana Employers Association President, Daniel Acheampong, said the association knows that the challenges are not domestic.”We know that what is going on in the country is not occasioned by any individual or group. Global events like the COVID-19, like the February 24th invasion of Ukraine by Russia have their toes in every economy in the world and we, as employers, are mindful of that.
We are feeling the pinch, but we know that by working together we should be able to find a way out of the menace,” he said.
FOREX BUREAU ASSOCIATION
The President of the Forex Bureau Association of Ghana, Mr. K.T. Dadzie, told President Akufo-Addo that the forex rates started coming down with the announcement of the meeting between Forex Bureaus.
Based on that, he concluded that the currency depreciation was orchestrated.He noted that the past three months have not been easy for operators of Forex Bureaus, as well as their customers.
“With the announcement that we were even meeting yesterday, the rate started coming down. It means it is not natural, this has all been done by people’s speculation and trying to make a windfall out of the situation that we are in,” he said.
MARKET WOMEN
In his meeting with market women, President Akufo-Addo solicited the support of the market women to save the economy.
The Minister for Sanitation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah urged the market women to check the pricing of their items, explaining that it was not normal for the price of oil, for instance, to change about thrice in a day.
The market women, from across the country, also expressed their concerns to the president, including the cost of transportation.
TRADES UNION CONGRESS
Having welcomed the leadership of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), President Akufo-Addo explained to them that the meeting was to seek their inputs on government’s measures to rescue the economy, including the IMF negotiations.
The meeting moved to a closed-door session thereafter.
INFORMATION MINISTER
Following the meeting with the TUC, the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, addressed the media.
He told the Presidential Press Corps that the President had concluded its consultations with economic stakeholders, ahead of a Cabinet meeting, starting today through to Saturday.
His briefing was a follow up to what he did on Monday to inform the country that the President was going to have these meetings.
He said the President had been sharing with them the progress of the IMF negotiations and “the kind of considerations we have in mind for the 2023 economic programme and budget, and they have also been giving him feedback and sharing with him thoughts and options that they think the country should opt for.”
