IMF Deal: Ghana Reaches New Agreement As Condition Is Given For Second $600M Payment
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a staff-level agreement with the Akufo-Addo government
- Ghana needs to secure a debt relief agreement from its official creditors to qualify for more bailout money
- The IMF said Ghana’s fiscal performance has been strong amid the ongoing economic crisis
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a staff-level agreement with Ghana on the first review of Ghana’s economic program under the Extended Credit Facility arrangement.
Ghana has been given a benchmark to meet to access the second tranche of the $3 billion bailout.
Source: Getty Images
The IMF staff held meetings in Accra over the last week to evaluate policy reforms.
This staff-level agreement is subject to IMF Management approval and Executive Board consideration once the necessary financing assurances have been received.
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In a statement, the IMF said Ghana needs to agree with creditors on settling its debt.
"To ensure the timely completion of the review, the country needs official creditors to quickly reach an agreement on a debt treatment in line with the financing assurances they provided in May 2023."
The IMF will then release another $600 million, bringing the total support Ghana has received to $1.2 billion.
The IMF said Ghana has adjusted macroeconomic policies and completed its domestic debt restructuring amid the severe economic and financial crisis.
It also said Ghana’s fiscal performance has been strong, “and Ghana is on track to lower the fiscal primary deficit on a commitment basis by about 4 percentage points of GDP in 2023.”
The IMF staff met with Vice President Bawumia, Finance Minister Ofori-Atta, and Bank of Ghana Governor Ernest Addison, among others.
Ghana facing uphill task to meet conditions
It has emerged that Nana Akufo-Addo's administration is facing an uphill task to secure the second tranche of the $3 billion IMF bailout cash.
Bright Simons of IMANI has disclosed that the government is struggling to convince the IMF to sign off on the $600 million.
His comments follow the response by Addison that described MPs taking part in the OccupyBoG protests as hooligans.
Addison compares protesting NDC MPs to hooligans
Addison responded forcefully to the recently held OccupyBoG demonstration.
According to him, MPs who took part in the protests behaved like hooligans because there were better ways they could have dealt with their concerns.
He also stated that the call for him to step down as central bank governor is untenable because that is not happening.
NDC MPs criticise Addison for snubbing them during the demo
Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported in a related story that the Minority in Parliament accused the BoG governor of disrespect.
Addison did not show up to meet the Minority Members of Parliament planning to petition at his office.
The governor was reportedly meeting IMF staff at the time.
The Ningo-Prampram MP, Sam Nartey George, called the governor a coward because of his absence.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
