IMF Bailout: Don’t remove subsidies – ISODEC

Source: Source: citifmonline.com / 30.09.2014  -  The Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) is warning government against the removal of petroleum subsidies which has been recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)....

After the first round of negotiations between the IMF and the government regarding a bailout programme for the nation, the IMF announced that petroleum subsidies and the huge public wage bill have been earmarked for a drastic review.

The removal, according to ISODEC, will worsen the economic conditions of the poor in the country.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors welcomed the IMF’s announcement and urged Ghanaians to prepare for the total removal of petroleum subsidies.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Senyo Horsi, told Citi News in an earlier interview that the impending changes “has been quite inevitable looking at our history of petroleum pricing and its effects on the economy.”

But ISODEC’s campaign coordinator, Dr. Steve Manteaw in an interview with Citi News, advised that the government should engage in targeted subsides.

He explained that governments which have governed the nation over the years have been practicing poor targeting which has influenced thoughts that subsidies are wasteful use of tax payers’ money.

He dismissed such assertions saying, “subsidies are a good thing because it helps the vulnerable in our society from falling through the cracks of economic policy making.”

He indicated that if government is able to provide better targeted subsidies, the poor will be protected “and that way you are able to ensure some fairness in society, some kind of social justice.”