Ghana Hopeful of Release of $360M IMF Loan
The Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adam is hopeful of a favourable response from the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the release of the third tranche of the US$3 billion bailout following a “successful” second review.
The response of the Board is expected in June after the review mission scored Ghana’s performance a favourable mark based on quantitative performance criteria and the indicative targets.
Addressing the Press on May 24, the Minister credited the country’s minimum net international reserves of $988.2 million; zero Central Bank borrowing; a ceiling cumulative of ¢4.3 million for the primary deficit on commitment basis; zero accumulation of external debt payments; non-Concessional borrowing limit of $66.2 million in present value term; and zero collateralised borrowing by the Central Government and State-owned enterprises for the score.
In addition to that were a minimum of ¢114.19 billion for non-oil public revenue and minimum of ¢4.07 billion in social spending at the end December 2023.
That notwithstanding, the country is still under review for indicative targets including ceiling of zero net change in the stock of payables of the Central Government and of payables to Independent Power Producers (IPP).
This, he said, will be completed before the IMF Executive Board meeting on the second review.
“Ghana satisfied all five but one structural benchmark due by end of December 2023 and end of March 2024. The assessment also shows great strides in our social protection interventions to mitigate the cost of adjustment on the poor and the vulnerable.”
The third tranche of $360 million will bring the total disbursement to US$1.56 billion.
