The Government of Ghana says it owes it to Ghanaians, his compatriots, and himself to go to any length to bring back the economy to the rude health it was in before the onset of the pandemic.
President Akufo-Addo made these remarks while addressing the nation on Sunday.
He said "When things came to the state where I concluded that we had to go to the International Monetary Fund to access a facility for budgetary support, I gave directives to the Minister for Finance to start the process"
"It was a painful decision for me to take, because going to the IMF was not part of the economic transformation agenda I had been pursuing, especially as my government had gone the extra mile to bring to a successful end the IMF programme we inherited from the previous government"
"But who would have imagined that President Akufo-Addo would order the closure of airports, offices, factories or schools"
"We were in extraordinary times and we took extraordinary measures, and when faced with the realities of the economic crisis last year, I accepted the challenge that the economy required a similar attitude, including the sacrifices many of us have made in recent times"
He noted that, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been most supportive, hence approving Ghana's bailout in record time culminating in the formal approval by the IMF Board on 17th May.
"As I am sure we have all heard by now, the details of the programme have been explained by officials of the Fund and by our Minister for Finance and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana"
He disclosed that the first tranche of six hundred (600) million US dollars has been credited to Ghana's national account, out of the three (3) billion US dollars that the country had negotiated to receive within a period of thirty-six (36) months.
"Fellow Ghanaians, access to the IMF facility will not spell the immediate end of the difficulties we are in presently, but the fact that we have been able to negotiate such a deal sends a positive message to our trading partners, creditors and investors; a positive message that will be underpinned by the discipline, hard work and enterprise with which we execute the programme"
"It should lead to the restoration of confidence and the reopening of avenues that had been closed to us this past year and a half. It should also lead to the resumption of many of the infrastructural projects that have stalled"
"Fellow Ghanaians, we got ourselves out of a pandemic in which there were no precedents on which to rely, and where even the experts admitted they had no clear-cut solutions. We did it by being resolute, being focused and working very hard, and by accepting that we had to stick together"
President Akufo-Addo hinted that, with a similar frame of mind and attitude, Ghana will overcome the economic difficulties as well.
"I have no doubts at all in my mind that we are on the right path, and we would soon start to see significant improvements in the economy and in the living standards of Ghanaians"
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith
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