Former Finance Minister Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has claimed that the government’s decision to pursue an IMF Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) was necessitated by shortcomings in implementing structural reforms.
Addressing Parliament during a debate on Ghana’s exit from the IMF programme, Dr Amin Adam argued that the PCI arrangement reflects concerns by the IMF over the pace of reform implementation.
“The reason this government opted for the PCI is that, number one, the PCI is more about reforms and that is why they are not going to give you money,” he said.
The Karaga MP expressed surprise that the government had agreed to undertake IMF-monitored reforms without securing additional financial support.
“I am surprised that this government will accept conditionalities without any money coming from the IMF,” he remarked.
Dr Amin Adam asserted that Ghana had fallen short of some structural benchmarks under the programme.
“One of the targets you were supposed to meet in respect of the structural benchmarks, you failed,” he said.
He compared Ghana’s reform implementation record with that of other African countries.
“We brought it to 70 per cent implementation, just like our peers — Kenya at 71 per cent and Zambia at 72 per cent. By the time you exited the IMF programme, you had brought it down to 55 per cent,” he stated.
According to him, concerns over reform implementation largely informed the country’s transition to the PCI framework.
“That is the reason the IMF forced you to accept the PCI because you didn’t implement the structural reforms,” he argued.
The former Finance Minister maintained that the government should focus on meeting its reform commitments rather than portraying the transition as a major policy achievement.
