Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo has advised his African counterparts to stop seeking loans and begging for aid from developed countries, a few days after Ghana agreed to the terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion loan.
Akufo-Addo issued the advice on Wednesday at the US-African Leaders Summit in Washington DC, where about 50 African leaders have gathered at the invitation of the US President Joe Biden, to discuss economic and political matters.
He said countries like Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya have what it takes to propel Africa to economic greatness, urging the leaders to provide quality education and opportunities that will yield economic prosperity in the continent.
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“We must bear in mind that to the outside world, nothing like Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya, we are simply Africans. Our destiny as people depends on each other.
“We must work together to change Africa’s narrative which is characterized by disease, hunger, poverty and illegal migration.
“No matter where you come from, as long as you are black, you are African. We must make Africa conducive for progress and prosperity,” Akufo-Addo said.
Ghana is facing its toughest economic turbulence in years, with inflation reaching as high as 50.3% in November, shooting the cost of living up.
Ghana cedis was ranked the worst performing currency in the world in October.
Government’s economic reforms have failed to tame the headwinds. On Tuesday, finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced in a press briefing that Ghana was “committed to the (IMF) programme and will work towards meeting the demands”.
Ofori-Atta said the approved proposed three-year loan is expected early next year. He said the agreement will help restore economic stability, tackle price spikes and strengthen the currency.
The IMF had tabled a programme that included a series of reforms to Ghana’s current economic structure as a condition for the loan. Ghana is understood to be unwilling to accept the IMF’s terms earlier. But as its economic situation bites harder, the West African country yielded to the proposed reforms.
Ofori-Atta said the reforms, which include creating a medium-term plan to bring in revenue, increasing tax compliance, making the country’s finances more transparent and improving how public industries are handled, are focused on shoring up public finances while protecting the vulnerable.
Stephane Roudet, IMF’s mission chief to Ghana, said in a statement on Monday that the Ghanaian authorities have committed to a wide-ranging economic reform programme, which builds on the government’s Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) and tackles the deep challenges facing the country.
Ghana announced that in addition to other reforms, it will restructure its debt and it’s “committed to strengthening social safety nets, including reinforcing the existing targeted cash-transfer programme for vulnerable households and improving the coverage and efficiency of social spending”, Roudet said.
The stringent reforms are geared toward restoring economic stability and debt sustainability while laying the foundation for stronger growth, according to the IMF.
Ghana was bending to all these conditions for the IMF’s loan while Akufo-Addo called on African leaders to stop begging developed countries for money.
“If we stop begging and spend Africa’s money inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from anyone, we will get the respect we deserve,” he said. “If we make it prosperous as it should be, respect will follow.”
His call has been widely denounced as hypocrisy. While Ghana seeks financial bailout from the IMF, Akufo-Addo is investing $400 million in a national cathedral, a church he said he’d promised to build for God if he becomes president.