Senior Economic Advisor to the President, Dr Nii Moi Thompson says government could sign up to an IMF bailout as it considers its options on how to revive the ailing economy.
Ghana is reeling under severe economic downturn with soaring interest rates and a depreciating currency.
Government is now considering ways to restore confidence in the economy. Dr Nii Moi Thompson said any option taken would also include home-grown programmes currently being run by government.
‘all options are on the table,’ Dr. Thompson said in an interview on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM Thursday, July 31, 2014.
‘A lot of the issues the IMF may raise [should government opt for assistance] are issues that we are working on any way,’ he remarked.
The economic advisor however noted that any assistance from the IMF would be more of technical expertise than financial.
‘there’s more leveraging for their technical expertise and so on that’s what we are looking at,’ he stated.
Meanwhile, government has also began discussions on how to rationalise the huge size of the public sector which is absorbing about 60% of national revenues.
The move will be a major step towards reducing the enormous wage bill.
The Ghana Education Service alone, according to Dr. Thompson, has over 40,000 drivers on its pay role who draw salaries each month.
‘That’s simply not something that we can sustain in the future,’ he stressed.
In a related development, President John Mahama is Chairing a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Economy at the Peduase Lodge near Aburi in the Eastern Region.
Participating in the meeting is Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur who also chairs Government’s Economic Management Team.
Other persons in attendance are Governor of the Central Bank, Henry Kofi Wampah, economist, Mr. Kwame Pianim and former Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey.
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