The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, has reiterated the Fund’s commitment to help Ghana secure a support programme.
Ghana, December 12, 2022, reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF, awaiting a board approval for balance of payment support to the tune of about $3 billion.
In a tweet, Ms. Georgieva said “very good meeting with 🇬🇭 President @NAkufoAddo. I congratulated him on 🇬🇭Ghana reaching a staff-level agreement for IMF support. We stand with Ghana and remain committed to helping deliver relief to Ghanaians”.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was in America attending the U.S-African Leaders’ Summit.
The IMF staff and government of Ghana reached a Staff-Level Agreement on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about $3 billion.
A statement from the fund, said the Ghana’s strong reform programme aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while protecting the vulnerable, preserving financial stability and laying the foundation for strong and inclusive recovery, was key in this decision.
However, the staff-level agreement is subject to IMF Management and Executive Board approval and receipt of the necessary financing assurances by Ghana’s partners and creditors.
To support the objective of restoring public debt sustainability, the statement added that, the government has launched a comprehensive debt operation. But the Fund said sufficient assurances and progress on this front will be needed before the proposed Fund-supported programme can be presented to the IMF Executive Board for approval.
“The Ghanaian authorities have committed to a wide-ranging economic reform program, which builds on the government’s Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) and tackles the deep challenges facing the country”, the statement pointed out.