Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, executive director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has tasked the government with developing what he refers to as a "local IMF equivalent."
He says that by doing this, the nation will no longer need to rely on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for guidance on fiscal consolidation and income production.
At a roundtable discussion on "Interrogating Ghana's 2023 budget and Economic Policy as a route to Economic recovery" sponsored by the Citizen's Coalition in Accra, Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh made the call.
"I believe that the Eurobond thing was a terrific idea when we first started, and it's part of what I think has brought us to this problem... However, I believe that it should have been abundantly evident to us that we required a domestic IMF replacement given the character of our politics and administration. That is, in the absence of the IMF, you must establish some institutional safeguards and safeguards yourself in order to be more financially responsible and avoid having to return to the IMF, the official added.
Although the nation has the Fiscal Council, he pointed out that it is not powerful enough to uphold discipline.
"We have a fiscal council that acts as a stand-in for the IMF, but even that arrangement was only theoretically effective. It won't work if you want to approach the IMF and you still lack financial restraint, he warned.
This comes just after the IMF and the Government of Ghana established a staff-level agreement on economic policies and reforms to be backed by a new three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement worth around $3 billion US dollars.
As the economy struggles through its worst crisis in twenty years, Ghana appealed to the IMF in July for a $3 billion three-year bailout.