Government expects approval of $3 billion loan request by early 2023

The government of Ghana is expecting to receive approval from the International Monetary Fund by early 2023.

During a joint press briefing to announce the staff-level agreement with the IMF the finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, said the government worked assiduously to reach staff-level agreement.

He said: “A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes for almost 6 months when Government formally announced its intention to engage the IMF for an IMF-supported programme, to enable us reach this Staff Level Agreement (SLA) today which paves the way for the IMF’s Management and Executive Board to approve Ghana’s programme request early next year.

“Since the announcement on 1st July, 2022 to formally engage the IMF for an IMF-supported Programme, there have been three rounds of negotiations with the IMF interspersed with a number of virtual meetings in-between to ensure both the GoG and the IMF teams work around the clock to get the SLA by end Dec 2022,” he added.

Ken Ofori-Atta was also quick to add that Ghana achieved a historic feat by concluding an SLA in 5 months.

“Against the backdrop of Staff Programmes, Ghana is indeed blessed to conclude our SLA within 5 months. This is historic in recent times relative to what we witnessed with Zambia, Chad and Ethiopia,” he said.

Ghana’s debt has reached unsustainable levels therefore the need to restructure to acquire support from the IMF.

SSD/FNOQ