Author name: Dr Maxwell Ampong

Let’s have a non-mathematical analysis of remittances. As usual, let’s stick to the facts. This is an opinion piece. I want to chat with you. I mean you can’t talk back but keep reading anyways. I don’t want boring statistics getting in the way of our conversation. And that’s what my column features are intended to be; conversations with you on whatever topic we decide to dissect. Today: An Independent Autopsy Of Remittances. We can leisurely describe remittances as domestic income that flows in from foreign economies resulting from locals moving to those foreign economies, whether permanently or temporarily. So, the parent in the States that send you a couple dollars for your upkeep? The shoes your friend schooling outside sent you as a birthday gift? The money that your relative abroad keeps sending to the family to build that big house that after 4 years and 400 money transfers that new house hasn’t even reached foundation level? Yup, those are all remittances. Pretty simple, right? Last year alone, Ghana bagged Three Billion United States Dollars’ worth of remittances. That’s $3,000,000,000 with nine zeros. To put that into perspective, within the whole of 2016 Ghana received foreign aid of $2.9 billion. Our non-traditional exports (NTEs) earnings in 2017 was $2.6 billion. And in 2018, the combined GDP’s of the Republic of The Gambia, the Republic of Seychelles and the Kingdom of Tonga was just about $3 billion. Yes, Tonga (officially the Kingdom of Tonga) is a real country. Let’s stick to the facts. This is an opinion piece. Very technical definitions of “Remittances” get very confusing. So, I turned to my very best friend for clarification: The International Monetary Fund (read my last article to be in on it). The IMF split remittances into two: “Compensation of employees” and “Personal transfers”. For Ghana, the “compensation of employees” would include income of migrant workers that will eventually leave, like say the Naija guy with a work permit, and locals employed by the embassies, foreign companies, international organisations etc. Basically, it’s the income of any foreigner who has a short-term job, or any Ghanaian with a job from a foreign company (IMF BPM6, 2009: page 272). “Personal transfers” (IMF BPM6, 2009: page 273) would encompass any transfers in cash or in kind made or received by Ghanaians here to or from those Ghanaians abroad. What that means is that if Uncle Borga sends down money from Germany, it’s remittance. If you pay the fees of your ward studying abroad, it’s also remittance. The not-so-obvious part of these two halves of the definition is this. If the Naija guy on a work permit in Ghana gets paid, he or she is not sending all the money overseas to family. There will be necessary living expenses and there will be chilling before something goes outside, but the FULL INCOME is counted as remittance. Also, the salaries of the Ghanaians employed by the embassies and the transnational companies are technically remittances even though those workers not foreigners nor are they transferring the monies anywhere. So technically, it should be clear that remittances might not necessarily have to be across borders; it can be within Ghana, technically. And there’s also this thing called “Social Remittances”. To explain that much easier, replace the cash or kind part of our definitions so far with all the knowledge, and values, and social and policy reforms, and innovative ideas and new technological skills that go from one end to the other. I just thought I should toss in that definition for good measure. We are still sticking to the facts. This is an opinion piece. There are about a quarter of a billion people (250,000,000) around the world living outside their home country. Immigration isn’t a fresh topic. The tales of leaving Ghana to seek greener pastures outside isn’t an unfamiliar tale. However, the scale of this at the turn of the 21st Century has been upturned. As far back as 2011 the number of Ghanaians in the diaspora was estimated to be 4 million people. Today, 8 years later I would have to copy-paste a source to confidently guess that number because things have changed. Ghanaians are more than ever moving back home and more willing to contribute to the national economy. The figures associated with our Remittances will only get bigger. In this current “Ghana Beyond Aid” era, I believe any fiscal avenue that pulls in such numbers independent of foreign involvement should warrant a closer look in addition to carefully placed structures that are curated to facilitate a boom under the proper economic climate. $3 billion is a lot of money. The millions of Ghanaians earning outside is a lot of people. Ghana’s economic targets “without aid” is one heck of a gargantuan ambition. The government has vocal on calls for the Ghanaian diaspora for get proactive in nation building. Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has previously said “It doesn’t matter if you’re a billionaire walking on the streets of America as a Blackman, they will see you no different from anybody walking on the streets of Africa, and so the emancipation of the people of African descent lies in the emancipation of Africa”. Aside the fact that I am pretty sure Jay Z and I would be viewed and treated and paparazzied differently on the streets of Bakersfield California, he is 100% correct in my opinion. The TRUE emancipation of the people of African descent lies in the emancipation of Africa herself. Ergo, the stock value of the Borga declines concurrently with a depreciation in stock of his homeland, which to many many whites, is just one big country called Africa. Fun Fact: August 2019 will mark the arrival of the first documented Africans from our continent to English America to be sold as indentured servants or involuntary labourers, a.k.a., slaves. We definitely are sticking to the facts. This is still 100% an opinion piece. Remittances are one of the most significant and tangible contributions of migrants to their home

First off, I don’t have the answer to what exactly happens next. Many opinion pieces on Ghana’s very unromantic breakup with the IMF have been said written hinted howled and argued out already through every medium possible. Ghana is on schedule to exit its $918 million bailout program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). If our Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has his way, our nation will never return to that relationship ever again. Yet, the ruckus on the matter comes as a surprise to me as I feel we should be used to a move like this by now. Kufuor made a similar move to resounding criticism and uproar much like what’s happening now. We shouldn’t be this surprised. Let’s stick to the facts. This is an opinion piece. When President John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor, leader of the New Patriotic Party back then, opted for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative bank in 2001, it was based on the objective analysis of the economic situation of the country. He urged all UN agencies, the international community and foreign investors to have confidence in the government and continue bringing development to the nation. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, current leader of the New Patriotic Party, has opted to pull Ghana out of the IMF this month, based on his objective analysis of the economic situation of the country. During this tenure the fiscal deficit has significantly improved and the party boasts of numerous economic milestones validated by the international community. He too, just as the former NPP leader aforementioned, urges all stakeholders to stay calm for he has deciphered the cause of our economic woes that keep driving us to the IMF: gross mismanagement. And do you doubt his diagnosis? Validation of the applicability of his cure is subject to time but has corruption and mismanagement not been the thorn in Ghana’s proverbial flesh since… ever? HIPC was never intended to end to all the problems and our loud presumably permanent exit from the IMF won’t end all our woes also. There was a positive yet critical support for the HIPC though, if memory serves me right. While the HIPC Initiative seeks to provide debt relief based on the implementation of poverty alleviation conditionalities governed by the IMF and the World Bank, the Kufuor Administration received the most financial assistance than any other in the history of Ghana. In fact, it was the third biggest recipient of British aid in Africa. In direct contrast this NPP government seems to be running away from aid. Why? If a man is to put out the fire in your concrete home and it might blow up your foundation pillars in the process, I’d say you handle your house fires IF YOU FEEL YOU CAN. Ken Ofori-Atta has been mighty confident about Ghana’s economic direction and his prophetic abilities on the economic direction of the nation in reaction to his stimuli should attain some recognition. Yes there is public outcry on the ground about hardships but tell me a period in Ghana within the last two decades that had a general unifying public consensus being “Ghana is now good oo”. It never happens. Our “good” economic status is always spoken about in retrospect. Former President Kufuor’s Economic and Finance team crafted the HIPC Initiative bailout. With the implementation of strategic governance, modernization of agriculture and rural development, enhanced social services, and vigorous infrastructure development, Ghana’s GDP quadrupled from £2.6 billion in 2000 to almost £11 billion. Ghana was spoken of as one of Africa’s success stories, and this is validated by the International Communities’ assessments at that time. What’s my point? My point is the next successive NPP Big Boss comes up with a radical move involving the IMF, stating strategic policy implementation, “discipline and systemic management in our national economy and its public finances” as his intended arsenal moving forward and it shouldn’t surprise you one bit. Let’s stick to the facts. This is an opinion piece. And fact is, the last time Ghana exited from the IMF we went running back in just two years. Do note though that the exit was under one party in 2006, and the proceeds of the running back came under another party in 2009. The IMF-approved US$602 million loan to Ghana in 2009 was intended to eliminate Ghana’s large fiscal imbalances. Conditionalities  for the loan included stabilization policies for economic growth and prosperity, reducing inflation, deferring statutory payments, and reining in government spending. When President Akufo-Addo defeated former President Mahama in December 2016 elections, the International Community’s evaluation of our economy appeared to have the former inherit an economy reeling from substantial public sector deficits, rising inflation, high unemployment, and a weakened currency from the latter. Akufo-Addo campaigned to end rampant government spending, create more jobs, and stop the financial crisis and actions are being taken in that direction. The 2018 budget and fiscal policy focused a downward review of electricity tariff and reeked of numerous material economic highlights. Long story short, by our Government’s standards, the country is now ready to weaned of IMF once again, presumably permanently. There are many benefits to working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These benefits aid in strengthening the public purse and sound economic regulation, improving transparency, the effectiveness of the inflation targets, controlling payroll, sizing up the civil service, and enhancing revenue collection. The program aims at macroeconomic stability to attain prosperity and to forge economic opportunities for all, while also protecting against the wrongful disbursement of public funds. However, IMF demands can create some strain on policies requisite at such and such a time for economic prosperity. This can unfortunately create poverty if not curbed. Borrowing money from the IMF can put restraints on the government, which might compromise national sovereignty in decision making and independence in more ways than one. While the IMF aims at controlling social spending and freezing wages, the wealth contribution is arguably to a tiny elite when mismanaged. Also, the IMF