Business Consultant and Director of Operations at Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, has characterized the state of the Ghanaian economy as critically ill, akin to being in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This perspective contradicts claims that the economy has achieved stability. Last week, Ghana achieved a staff-level agreement with the IMF, paving the way for the release of an additional $600 million as part of the $3 billion IMF bailout package.

0

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta had portrayed this development as a sign of economic recovery and resurgence. However, during an interview with Francis Abban on GHOne TV's State of Affairs, Joe Jackson expressed his dissenting view on the matter.“The best analogy I can give was that somebody had a road crash, entered into a coma, was rushed to the hospital and was given some blood transfusion and now his condition is described as stable.

1

But the person is still very sick, let’s be clear”, he said.“Last year, we suffered bad crash and in December last year we raised up our hands and said we cannot pay [our debts] and everything was going south with us going downhill at a horrendous rate. In March we signed bailout agreement with the IMF which gave us some blood transfusions and gave us some life, but we are still in intensive care let nobody be deceived”, he added.

2

In response to claims that there have been improvements in macroeconomic indicators since the initiation of the IMF program, Joe Jackson contends that the extent of these improvements falls short of being deemed a significant turnaround.“It’s like I had a BP of 180/140 and today I have come down to 160/120. The numbers are looking better than they did, but my BP is still high. That is the situation now.

3

It is an economy with high taxation, high interest rate and high inflation with some semblance of foreign exchange stability”, he argued.Joe Jackson adds that any level of complacency could result in a deterioration of the nation's poor economic circumstances.“This economy needs careful management, this economy is still in intensive care, and you cannot take your eye of the monitors for a minute.

4

If we do, things could go south very very quickly”, he concluded.A board approval for the distribution is contingent on the government's ability to negotiate an MOU on the restructuring of its external obligations with creditors, according to Stephane Roudet, the head of the IMF team in Ghana.

5