Adnan Adams Mohammed
All things being equal, Ghana’s $3 billion extended credit facility programme second review by the International Monetary Fund Staff Level team is ready to be presented the Board for consideration before June ending, a senior official of IMF has said.
The second staff review, if approved by the Board will pave way for the release of $360 million more as the third tranche of the $3 billion facility.
The IMF staff team and Ghana’s team reached a staff-level agreement for the second review of the programme in April this year. Already, Ghana has received $1.2 billion in two separate $600 million tranches.
“The aim is to bring the review to the IMF’s Executive Board before the end of June, and once approved by the Board, the review would give Ghana access to about $360 million,” Ms. Julie Kozack, Director of Communications of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has said at a press conference in Washington, D.C. last week.
She noted that Ghana’s exonomy has seen progress since the programme started.
“The authorities’ strong policy and reform efforts under the programme are bearing fruit, and signs of economic stabilisation are emerging.”
She added: “Growth, for example, in 2023, was higher than anticipated, and the growth projections are being revised upward.”
Also, she noted: “Inflation has been declining rapidly, the fiscal and external positions have improved, and exchange rate volatility has declined quite significantly.”
“The authorities are making good progress on their comprehensive debt restructuring.” “The domestic debt exchange was completed last year, and on January 12th, the government reached agreement in principle with its official bilateral creditors.”
‘Ghana is also engaging with external private creditors to seek their support”, Ms Kazack added.
