IMF commends Ghana's financial sector reforms

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has welcomed the progress made by the government of Ghana in its cleanup of the financial sector and recent improvements in banking sector performance.

However, the Directors of the Fund are urging the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance to complete the financial sector restructuring while mitigating its fiscal costs.

The IMF disclosed this at the conclusion of its Executive Board 2019 Article IV Consultation with Ghana.

The directors acknowledged that the financial sector reforms require implementing upfront reimbursement caps, addressing weaknesses in a state?owned bank, accelerating measures to reduce the NPL overhang, completing regulatory reforms, and stepping up recovery of funds from complicit directors and shareholders of failed institutions.

The directors also considered that continuing the development gains of recent decades will require boosting export competitiveness, increasing economic diversification, and accelerating productivity growth.

Improving the business environment and promoting digitalisation would also boost opportunities, the Fund added.

The Directors encouraged the authorities to continue strengthening the anti?corruption framework, in particular, by enhancing the capacity of law enforcement and prosecutorial bodies.

They also welcomed the government’s collaboration with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Inter?Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa to improve the AML/CFT framework and eventually exit the FATF “grey list.”

During the financial sector reforms, the licences of nine local banks were revoked.

They include Capital Bank, UT Bank, The Royal Bank, uniBank, The Sovereign Bank, The Construction Bank, Premium, The Beige and Heritage Bank.

So far, more than GHS11 billion have been injected into the banking system to safeguard depositors’ funds.