The Director of the African Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Abebe Aemro Selassie, has commended Ghana for making tremendous improvements in key sectors, particularly in power accessibility and overall living conditions.
Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, January 21, Mr. Selassie attributed the progress to the collective efforts of the Ghanaian people and institutions rather than IMF programmes.
“There has been tremendous progress in Ghana. This is not on account of the IMF or its programmes, but what the Ghanaian people, governments, businesses, Parliament and civil society have done. When I look at Ghana’s record, there have been tremendous strengths in the improvement and development outcomes,” he remarked.
He added that Ghana’s continued success would depend on sustaining these collective efforts.
“Indicators like electricity access used to be 30%, 40% 20 years ago, but now it’s closer to 90% or even more. There’s been progress in the quality of life in many cases,” he stated.
However, Mr. Selassie noted that challenges remain, particularly in job creation and economic stability.
He said Ghana has not made comparable progress in generating jobs and continues to experience volatility in key macroeconomic indicators, especially around election periods.
“Where there hasn’t been much progress is job creation and volatility in macroeconomic indicators generally around the electoral cycle,” he added.
COVID-19: IMF provided $70bn in support to Sub-Saharan Africa – Abebe Selassie
