IMF Approves $600 Million Payout To Ghana After Debt Restructuring

• The IMF has agreed to disburse a second $600 million to Ghana as part of a three-year bailout programme
• The payout has been approved after the government restructured its debt owed to some creditors
• Ghana earlier received a draft term sheet on debt relief from creditors that satisfied the IMF

The IMF has agreed to disburse a second tranche of $600 million to Ghana as part of a three-year bailout programme.

The payout has been approved after the government restructured its debt owed to some bilateral creditors.

At a press conference in Ghana on Friday, January 19, 2024, an IMF rep said the cash disbursement was imminent.

Ghana’s performance under the program has been strong, the IMF said late Friday.

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The IMF also said Ghana met all quantitative performance criteria for the first review and almost all indicative targets and structural benchmarks.

Last week, Ghana was assured the payout would be possible after coming to some debt relief agreements with creditors.

The government now has a term sheet from the Paris Club Group of creditors and China.

This was after months of negotiations to restructure as much as $5.4 billion of bilateral debt.

Ghana started restructuring its public debt in December 2022 to qualify for $3 billion in support from the IMF.

The country received $600 million when it agreed to the IMF programme in May 2023.

But further disbursements have been contingent on restructuring the country's debt.

The IMF reached a staff-level agreement with Ghana on the first review of Ghana's economic program under the Extended Credit Facility arrangement in October 2023.

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The agreement hinged upon the government renegotiating debts.

Earlier, the government said debt restructuring talks with China were progressing well.

Struggles to meet IMF conditions

YEN.com.gh previously reported that Ghana missed the November 1, 2023, timeline set in the IMF programme to get the second tranche of the $3 billion bailout package.

Ghana had submitted proposals to commercial creditors seeking a haircut of up to 40 percent.

Bright Simons of IMANI Ghana earlier disclosed that the government struggled to convince the IMF to sign off on the $600 million.

His comments follow the response by Ernest Addison, the Bank of Ghana governor, who described MPs taking part in the OccupyBoG protests as hooligans.

Source: YEN.com.gh