First $600 million from IMF loan hits BoG’s account

The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has confirmed that the government has received the first tranche of $600 million of the $3 billion loan facility from the International Monetary Fund.

This was confirmed by the Minister according to citinewsroom.com reports.

“That’s the confirmation I have,” he said.

During a joint press conference between the Government of Ghana and officials of the IMF, the Finance Minister outlined the tranches in which the money will be disbursed.

He said, “There is a $600 million release, and we will be working with the IMF to see if we can get it by tomorrow, and then we will move on to the next 6 months which will be another $600 million, and then we move on to about 5 different tranches every 6 months in the periods ahead.”

At the same press conference, the minister stated that Ghana is not in a rush to go to the international capital market.

Ghana has been shut out of the international capital market after its debt levels reached unsustainable levels. It had to embark on a debt restructuring programme for both domestic and external debt.

“In addition to the revenue measures that we saw in the budget that are improving at GRA and that will give us the resource to move forward, curtailing and managing our expenditures are going to be important.

“There is no rush in going back to the international capital market, our expectation is that in managing our expenditure and increasing our revenue we will have the resources to do it.

"Working towards the capital market is important because we want to get our ratings up and make the country more attractive for investors, especially FDIs. So, no one is rushing to the capital market at this juncture,” he said.