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Minority claims IMF ‘sleeping on the job,’ alleges gov’t deviating from fiscal agreements



The Minority in Parliament has accused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of “sleeping on its job,” claiming the fund is allowing the government to deviate from previously agreed fiscal arrangements.

Speaking on behalf of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the former Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, said the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is allegedly financing GoldBod, despite an IMF agreement prohibiting monetary financing by the central bank.

“When the IMF will sleep and allow the government to deviate from the formula, which the IMF agreed with us for determining the primary balance, we shouldn’t say it? When the Bank of Ghana is financing GoldBod, which is monetary financing, the IMF made us sign a Memorandum of Understanding that the Bank of Ghana would not finance government anymore.

“Yet, the Bank of Ghana is financing GoldBod. The minister has failed to release the $279 million allocated to GoldBod in the 2025 budget, and the Bank of Ghana is financing it. This is financing of the government by the Bank of Ghana,” Dr Adam said.

He added that such actions undermine the IMF’s oversight role and warned that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will continue highlighting what they describe as missteps by the current government.

The former Finance Minister also criticised the government’s fiscal performance for 2025, alleging that revenue targets were largely missed and that claims of fiscal discipline were misleading.

“The government planned to spend 5.1 billion Ghana cedis from quarter one to quarter three, but only 3.8 billion was actually spent, compared to an annual allocation of 6.7 billion.

“The amount released for goods and services is just 56% of the total allocation for the year. The program Capex for the same period was 26.6 billion Ghana cedis, but only 11 billion was released, just 34% of the annual Capex of 32.6 billion,” he said.

Dr Adam also noted revenue shortfalls across the board, including a GH₵7.7 billion shortfall in total revenue and grants, a GH₵6.8 billion shortfall in domestic revenue, and a GH₵9 billion shortfall in tax revenue, arguing that these failures made claims of fiscal prudence untenable.

“They came to Parliament boasting of revenue measures, but the reality is they have failed to meet their targets. How can you claim prudence when you cannot even achieve your revenue?” he questioned.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.



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