Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has urged the government to be open with Ghanaians as the country prepares to enter an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Speaking on Face to Face on Citi TV, he noted transparency and candidness as key during the process.

Mr. Terkper said there should be “no playing with figures so that we tell Ghanaians the true situation.”

“That is the only way in which they will understand and say, if you want to put a little money aside to repay debts, we are with you.”

Mr. Terkper also wants the government to commit to recommended structural measures and strengthen institutions.

“President Obama told us we need leadership, strong leadership in Africa. The thing we need most are institutions,” the former minister recalled.

During the IMF programme, Mr. Terkper predicted that government will also have to make some tough sacrifices.

“That is what we should be doing in the first place, and that is why we sacrificed current use of the oil revenue to set up a stabilisation fund.”

An IMF team is in Ghana until October 7 to continue discussions with the government on policies and reforms that could be supported by a lending arrangement.

The Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana have commenced a comprehensive debt sustainability analysis with the IMF for a $3 billion support programme.

The meeting with the IMF comes amid concerns that Ghana is about to start talks with domestic bondholders on a restructuring of its local-currency debt.