Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson, has responded to the IMF statement advising parliament to approve a $ 1 billion loan to prevent the economy from grinding to a halt.
According to him, parliament does not take instruction from foreign partners but rather considers advice that can either be accepted or rejected depending on the circumstance.
“Parliament does not take instruction from our foreign partners, we take advice, so advice can either be accepted or be rejected depending on the circumstance of the day. Yes, we have the document and we have to do justice with the document,†he said
Speaking in an interview after a committee considered the loan agreement which has been rejected, Ato Forson stated that it was due to the fact that some concerns including defects in the document raised by the minority with regards to the loan have not been addressed.
“…we met as a committee for us to consider and approve two tranches of loans. We have considered them in good fate but we have lingering concerns. First of all, we believe that the document before us has some fundamental defects because what is in the memorandum to parliament and what is in the loan agreement have some difference in the sense that in one breath, we were called upon to approve a loan of 750 million dollars but what is in the agreement has two trenches, tranche A and tranche b, one is in dollars and one in euros. So that will mean that parliament would have to amend what was brought to us.
“A major concern to us is, what is in the budget is significantly different from what they are asking us to do. The budget is saying that in the course of the year they will be taking a term loan of 750million dollars, so why do you ask us to approve 1 billion when your own budget says 750million?
“Parliament does not take instruction from our foreign partners, we take advise, so advise can either be accepted or be rejected depending on the circumstance of the day. Yes, we have the document and we have to do justice with the document. A major concern to us is, what is in the budget is significantly different from what they are asking us to do. The budget is saying that in the course of the year they will be taking a term loan of 750million dollars, so why do you ask us to approve 1 billion when your own budget says 750million?†he said.
Source: Ghanaweb