An International Monetary Fund (IMF) Bailout Dashboard and Debt Tracker tools platforms have been launched to provide citizens with accessible data on Ghana’s public debt and IMF programme progress.
These will provide the public, including journalists, researchers, and policymakers with data to facilitate their work in the bid to promote fiscal transparency and accountability in Ghana. The Economic Governance Platform (EGP), a coalition of civil society organisations focused on sustainable economic growth, launched the online platforms on Thursday in Accra.
“The launch of the IMF Dashboard and Debt Tracker tools is a significant step towards promoting fiscal transparency and accountability in Ghana,” said Madam Mary Amelana Addah, the Executive Director, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), when she launched the platforms.
She said the development of the tools by civil society, funded by OXFAM Ghana, was a way of demonstrating the commitment of the CSOs to promoting transparency and accountability in Ghana’s public finance management (PFM).
Data on the platforms would help advocate better fiscal downturns, better PFM regimes, and better debt sustainability for the people of Ghana. Madam Addah commended the EGP, which had come a long way since its inception to earn international recognition, with the IMF and World Bank, citing it as an example for other countries to emulate.
“Kenya has even sent representatives to learn from Ghana’s experience,” she noted.
Dr Angela Azumah Alu, the Country Director of Oxfam in Ghana, expressed concern that the most vulnerable populations were disproportionately affected by Ghana’s unsustainable debt challenges.
She was optimistic that the new tools would help demystify the IMF process and Ghana’s debt situation, enabling citizens to hold leaders accountable for their actions. Mr Abdul Karim Mohammed, Coordinator, EGP, said Ghana’s debt crisis were attributable to a myriad of factors, including poor tax management, corruption, and economic mismanagement.
These factors, he noted, have persisted since the country attained independence.
To help address them, he disclosed that the EGP had commissioned a study to look into Ghana’s debt management practices. The study, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will examine the political economy of debt acquisition and accumulation, the legal and institutional framework for debt management, and debt transparency and accountability.
The EGP is a civil society-led initiative that aims to promote sustainable economic growth, reduce debt dependency, and ensure that Ghana’s economic policies benefit its citizens. Over the years, the platform has metamorphosed into a viable group that brings together CSOs and academia to interrogate issues of fiscal governance, macro, micro, PFM issues, governance, and anti-corruption.
Source: GNA
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