Nii Moi Thompson, the former National Development Planning Commission Director-General, believes the government is shying away from IMF support because of possible scrutiny of COVID-19 expenditure.

Speaking on The Point of View, he said he viewed the push for the e-levy as “a last gap measure” from the government after mismanaging COVID-19 funds.

“It is simply mind-boggling the amount of money we have had before COVID and during COVID,” he said.

The IMF and the World Bank provide Ghana with $1 billion and $230 million respectively to assist with tackling the pandemic.

Mr. Thompson now expects strict conditions if the government should turn to IMF support.

“They [IMF] are now lurking in the shadows waiting for us to go to them and the number of conditions that they are likely to put on the table, that is probably why our government is reluctant to go.”

As an example, he said the IMF may decide to scrutinize Ghana’s use of money meant to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If they were to go to the IMF, the IMF is going to insist on auditing COVID expenditures because they won’t come and give you money without looking at what you did wrong.”

“They may even insist that it be an outside audit company because of the way we treated the previous Auditor General,” Mr. Thompson added.