The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has said that Ghana securing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme will not mark the end of the economic challenges facing the country.
Giving an update on Ghana’s economy, the finance minister indicated though the IMF deal has significantly paved the way for the implementation of an ambitious and well thought out programme of reform for our economy and country, the real work of adjustments, re-alignments and the return to a path of steady economic growth has just begun.
“Let us brace ourselves for the needed reforms, especially in expenditure control, non-arrears accumulation, revenue growth, ECG collections and Energy Sector reforms, in order to rebuild the walls of the Republic with urgency,” he said.
He added that, our reform programme, the Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG), now supported by the 3-year Extended Credit Facility arrangement with the IMF, is built on clear targets and strong policy and structural measures.
In mid-May 2023 the IMF approved a US$3 billion 36-month arrangement with Ghana. It immediately disbursed the first tranche of US$600 million.
This is the second time in the past eight years that the country has approached the IMF. And it’s the 17th time since independence in 1957 – that’s roughly once every four years on average.
The first tranche of the latest loan is expected to be used to bolster Ghana’s foreign currency reserves and help stabilize the cedi as well as for budget support.
Ghana has been facing severe economic and financial challenges since early 2022. This has included defaulting on some of its domestic and international debt. In December 2022, Ghana declared a moratorium on its international debt and further technically defaulted in February 2023 after failing to pay a coupon – the interest rate paid on a bond – on one of its debts following the expiration of a grace period.