GHANA’S Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said on Thursday the government was committed to not seeking International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance to relieve its debt.
Ghana’s government in March announced a raft of spending cuts to tackle inflation, reduce deficit, restore a depreciating local currency and reassure spooked investors.
‘We have committed to not going back to the fund because… the fund knows we are in the right direction,’ he said at a media conference. ‘It’s about validating the program we have in place and finding other ways of handling our debt without going to the fund.’
The West African gold, oil and cocoa producer saw consumer inflation rise to an 18-year record of almost 24 percent in April despite efforts to contain price hikes and recover its debt-ridden economy.
Government Statistician, Samuel Kobina said that the food inflation increased to 26.6 percent and the non-food inflation increased to 21.3 percent in April.
Providing policy considerations for national and subnational decision-makers, the government statistician revealed that 295 out of the 305 brand items in the inflation basket recorded price increases.
‘And 99 of the items recorded higher inflation rates than the national average inflation rate of 23.6 percent,’ he added.
The Bank of Ghana, which is mandated to ensure price stability, is set to review the economy and make policy decisions in response to the surging inflation later this month.