The Second Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Habib Iddrisu, has refuted claims that the government furnished the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with incorrect macroeconomic data.
According to him, the IMF with such credibility and credentials could not have accepted just any macroeconomic figures from the Finance Ministry.
The Tolon MP was responding to allegations on Newsfile by former Deputy Finance Minister, Mona Quartey that the Economic Management Team provided incorrect macro-economic figures to the IMF.
The former Deputy Finance Minister, while contributing to discussions on the same programme, said “there has to be a change of the economic management team. This team is no longer credible. This is a team that has lied, not only to the people of Ghana outside your party, but they’ve also lied to you. And the IMF has found them out. The numbers they gave; the macro-economic numbers they gave were not correct”.
However, the Tolon MP said such allegations are not true saying that “We need to respect the institution IMF, especially since due diligence is done by them. They are a credible organization, they will not just sit down and say that the government of Ghana is giving them wrong information and they just take information like that.
“It is never true that government has provided them with wrong information,” he said on Newsfile, Saturday.
The lawmaker rather believes that the negotiations with the IMF are moving at a faster pace for the country to secure a programme.
He indicated that the government will, before November 15, conclude negotiations with the Fund and include the programme in the 2023 budget.
“The IMF has trust and confidence in this government and the President for that matter…At the end of the day, the 2023 budget will be presented and I am very convinced from where I sit, that the negotiations of IMF will be concluded by then and will be incorporated in the budget,” he added.
This, he said would happen because of the “credible people at the Finance Ministry”.
By Vincent Kubi