$3 billion IMF bailout: Ghana completes prior actions

Ghana has completed all prior actions necessary to receive sup­port for its economic recovery programme, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed.

According to Abebe Selassie, IMF Director for Africa, the only outstanding issue was the confir­mation of financing assurances from external creditors.

He however, noted that expect­ing a resolution to the matter are expectant when the Paris Club meets again this week.

Speaking at a press briefing on the sidelines of the April IMF Spring Meeting, he said all the measures required to present Ghana’s programme to the IMF Executive Board were complete.

“On the status of the pro­gramme with Ghana, we had reached staff-level agreement, as you know, last December. And we are now comfortable that all of the measures required for us to present the programme to our Executive Board are complete, except for the required financing assurances from external credi­tors.

“We are very comfortable with all the steps that Ghana has done, and that is why we are also urging creditors to step forward and provide the financing assuranc­es needed for us to present the programme to the Board as soon as possible.

“We are very optimistic and keeping fingers crossed this will happen in the next few weeks,” Mr Selassie stated.

The IMF, he noted, is encour­aged by the steps that the Ghana government had taken over the last several months since the pro­gramme request.

“It’s been a very difficult time of course, very difficult, very sig­nificant, measures that have had to be taken, and the initial steps that the government has taken are very encouraging,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Managing Di­rector of IMF, Kristalina Geor­gieva, has commended Ghana for taking the bold actions necessary to enable it get support from the world for its economic recovery programme.

She further commended the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta as being proactive in engaging bilateral partners.

In an interview, Mr Ofori-Atta said “we have had a very positive and successful mission at the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, with a lot of goodwill and support for our economic programme.”

He said the government was expectant of good news about financing assurances very soon, to enable the country present its programme to the IMF Board for approval.

Ghana’s participation in the spring meetings also saw the formal unveiling of the road­map of the Accra- Marrakech Agenda which would culminate at the World Bank/ IMF Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco in October this year.

On the sides of the Spring Meetings, the Ghanaian govern­ment delegation also met with officials of the United States of America (US) treasury, private sector investors, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the USDFA and the US EximBank, as part of efforts to strengthen the ties of friendship and econom­ic cooperation between the two nations.