IMF bailout: Ghana will have brighter and resilient economic future – Stephane Roudet

Stephane Roudet, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission Chief for Ghana, has assured creditors and investors across the world that Ghana’s 17th loan-support programme with the Fund will position it as a resilient economy.

He said the current programme, which received Board approval on Wednesday “is rich in structural reforms that cover a wide range of sectors that will make Ghana more resilient and withstand shocks in the future”.

The first tranche of $600 million out of the total $3bm loan from IMF, which is to ensure macroeconomic stability by reducing the level of interest payment, debt and budget deficit, would hit Ghana’s account Friday.

Mr Roudet gave the assurance during a press briefing in Washington DC and online on Thursday, after the Board approved three (3) billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangements for the county.

He noted that the successful implementation of the $3 billion three-year ECF arrangement between the Fund and Ghanaian authorities would also “set the stage for a brighter future for Ghana”.

The Mission Chief called on all stakeholders, especially, bilateral and other external creditors to support efforts to complete Ghana’s restricting, which was critical for the implementation of the $3bn loan-support programme.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Finance Minister, assured that the Government would increase revenue in addition to expenditure rationalisation measures that would create more funding resources under the programme.

That, he said would make Ghana more attractive to foreign and private investors for higher growth and job creation, even as authorities worked to ensure that all benchmarks were met for a successful implementation of the programme.

He said the Government would be inspired by the momentum that made Ghana attain the Staff-Level Agreement, financial assurances from bilateral creditors and approval in near record time to implement the 36-month programme.

“We are certainly on the path toward not just recovery, but revitalising the economy in that regard. I’m confident that the collective effort of the Ghanaian people will work through our current challenges and we will emerge stronger than before,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.

“We have reached the point where the stakeholders must come through very quickly with their support to give meaning to the catalytic role of the Fund to conclude the remaining negotiations on external debt restructuring to ensure that Ghana quickly gets the full benefits,” the Finance Minister added.

Dr Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, noted that the approval of the $3 billion loan programme would help Ghana to better engage other development partners for the needed reforms for macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth.

“This is now the time to begin the work. The programme approval is just the beginning of the real work of building Ghana better,” Dr Addison said.

The IMF-loan facility with Ghana is a three-year Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) to provide a balance of payment funding as part of a broader effort to quicken the country’s recovery from an economic crisis induced by a pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and internal structural problems.

It is also to help create the conditions for inclusive and sustainable growth and job creation, help to alleviate the exchange rate pressures and depreciating currency and provide a catalytic effect on additional sources of financing.