The Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has revealed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board has set January 11, 2024, to meet over Ghana’s much-awaited second tranche disbursement of the 3billion dollar credit facility.
According to him, the latest development comes on the back of signals given by China to support Ghana in its external debt restructuring program.
“And so when the Board meets, the paper we need from China and the Paris Club would’ve been delivered to the IMF in addition to our Staff Level Agreement (SLA) and the Board will sit on the 11th January, to pass Ghana and thereby the second tranche and the money will come to our accounts a day after the board’s approval” he announced.
The Minister said Ghana had done all that it needed to do to meet conditions required for disbursement of the second tranche and the delay is no fault of the country.
Dr Mohammed Amin Adam made the disclosure in an interaction with Journalists in the Northern region during a press soiree he personally sponsored on December 31, 2023.
“You will recall that the first tranche which was disbursed to us came the day after the board’s approval. So the IMF mission came to Ghana, we had meetings, evaluated our performance and we successfully signed a Staff Level Agreement, which means that Ghana has done its part – all that we needed to do for disbursement to take place, we did and that is why we signed the SLA.
“And it is the Staff Level Agreement that is taken to the Board to pass for disbursement to take effect but unfortunately for us, [this time round], it is not just the SLA that would be taken to the board but also the commitment by our bilateral creditors to say that they have agreed to restructure our debts with them. That is why you heard of the Paris Club” he asserted.
Dr Adam further explained that the Paris Club needed to give an indication by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ghana to affirm their readiness to restructure the country’s debt.
He emphasized the MoU was required by the Briton Woods Institution in addition to the SLA to pass Ghana at the Board before the disbursement of the second tranche of the deal.
“All that the government had to do for the Paris Club, the official creditors to sign an MoU as Ghana has done and the all members of the Paris Club except one country agreed that Ghana had done what we have to do, and that country is China. Now China’s issue is not with Ghana, China’s issue is with the Briton Woods Institution because China is saying that, you cannot ask us to restructure our debts when you as Briton Woods Institution exclude yourself from the restructuring of your debts with the countries in question” he clarified.
The Member of Parliament Karaga reiterated that the issue is therefore not just about Ghana, stressing, “China is of the view that, why should we accept debt restructuring [because Africa owes us more than it owes any other country in the world] when IMF excludes itself from restructuring, World Bank excludes itself from restructuring, African Development Bank, [we call them multilateral], they all have excluded from the restructuring”.
However, Dr Adam said China has now agreed to exempt Ghana and they are ready to give the Memorandum of Understanding to the IMF for the approval of the second disbursement.
