Faced with this difficult situation, we have laid out a strong program to restore macroeconomic stability and lay the foundation for strong and more inclusive growth. Key areas of focus of our Post-Covid-19 Program for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) include ensuring public finance sustainability while protecting the vulnerable, bolstering the credibility of monetary and exchange rate policies to reduce inflation and rebuild external buffers, preserving financial sector stability, and taking extraordinary steps to promote entrepreneurship and private investments (domestic and FDI) to establish a dynamic export-driven economy and accelerate growth as a strong platform for the AfCFTA, while also ensuring further improvements in governance and transparency of the public sector.

We have already taken several important steps as part of the PC-PEG. Parliament has approved the 2023 budget which has jump-started our ambitious and frontloaded fiscal consolidation program, including through ambitious revenue measures. We have also launched and now implementing a comprehensive debt operation, which, together with our fiscal program, will put public finances and debt back on a sustainable path. We have taken steps to strengthen expenditure commitments controls. We have raised electricity tariffs as an essential step toward a full cost-recovery pricing regime, with a view to reducing the energy sector financial shortfall and ensuring the financial sustainability of the energy sector. The government and the Bank of Ghana have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to end monetary financing to help reduce inflation. The Bank of Ghana has also tightened its monetary policy stance significantly in recent months and is committed to maintaining the appropriate policy stance to help steer inflation back to the medium-term target band of 8 ± 2 percent. As part of our efforts to enhance fiscal transparency and public sector accountability, the Auditor General has prepared and published an audit report on COVID-19 spending.

To support our objectives, we wish to request a 36-month arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), with access at 304 percent of our SDR quota (SDR 2.242 billion) to be disbursed as budget support. Along with support from development partners and financing provided through the comprehensive debt restructuring that has been launched, the proposed financing arrangement will cover our fiscal and external financing gaps as we embark on a multi-year adjustment effort.

We believe that the policies and actions set out in the attached Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) underpinned by the PC-PEG will enable us to achieve our program objectives. The proposed arrangement will be monitored through a series of quantitative performance criteria and indicative targets. It also includes a series of prior actions and structural benchmarks covering reform areas that are critical to bolster macro-economic performance and continuous performance criteria related to exchange restrictions and multiple currency practices in the context of the Article VIII. The government is committed to providing the IMF with information on the implementation of the agreed measures and the execution of the program, as provided for in the attached Technical Memorandum of Understanding (TMU).

Should further measures be necessary, we will consult in advance with the IMF on their adoption, in accordance with applicable IMF policies. We are committed to working closely with IMF staff to ensure that the program is successful, and we will provide the IMF with the relevant information necessary for monitoring our progress.