Daily Guide – NPP Vice Presidential Candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has responded to critics who said he lied during his recent lecture at the Central University College on Ghana’s decision to seek help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Dr Bawumia stated among other things that the bailout programme will be unsuccessful because the data upon which the programme was built was not credible.
He has since been accused by government officials of lying about figures he mentioned at the event.
However responding his critics, the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana told host of the African Christian Network in New York, on the sidelines of a fundraising dinner that people are compelled to make such ‘blank’ statements ‘when they don’t have anything to say.’
‘I gave a talk, 70 page paper and quite well researched and well documented so I am quite comfortable and then infact I don’t understand what can be misleading.’
‘I said this is why we got into the IMF; you were spending too much relative to revenues, which is true, you were borrowing too much which is true, your external payment position has deteriorated which is true and so you ended up at the IMF and the IMF will impose certain conditions which is true and if you don’t do certain things right, the anchor will not hold which is true so I am not quite sure what it is that is not true that I said.I think unfortunately the supporters of this government and this government itself are very reluctant to admit the truth even when it hits them in the face.’ he further explained.
At the lecture,Dr. Bawumia said the inflation data on which the programme was drafted was questionable.
‘… The data on inflation produced by the [Ghana Statistical Service] GSS does not appear to reflect actual price developments. I have raised this issue before and I have returned to it today with further and better particulars. The year 2014 was a very bad one as far as the economy is concerned,’ he said.
‘The exchange rate depreciated by 31%, utility and petroleum prices went up significantly and economic growth declined but for some reason inflation, especially food price inflation remained relatively subdued according to the Ghana Statistical Service.
Between January and December 2014, the rate of increase in food prices as reported by the GSS actually declined marginally from 7.1% in January to 6.8% by December.
Defending his earlier comments, Dr. Bawurmia said revelations coming out after the lecture indicates the country is in a mess.
‘Dumsor as I said its been a three year problem for the country and we are only now beginning to take emergency measures after three years.
I think it is definitely a priority because you cannot grow as an economy without energy. Energy is the key to industrialization so many small businesses are hurting. Households are hurting, hospitals are hurting so it is defintely going to be priority.’
Some government officials also accused the New Patriotic Party running mate for deliberately putting out information that the African Development Bank (AfDB) had blacklisted Ghana for unpaid debts.
