Ghana Inches Closer to Receiving $370 Million from IMF
Ghana is hoping to secure the needed International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board approval for an additional US$370 million, following the successful fourth review of the country’s economic program under the Extended Credit Facility arrangement.
The authorities of the West African country reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF after meetings in Accra from April 2 to April 15, 2025.
“This staff-level agreement is subject to Executive Board consideration,” the Fund noted in a statement after the review.
Once disbursed, the US$370 million will bring the total IMF financial support disbursements under the arrangement to US$2,355 million.
In the press statement, the IMF Mission Chief for Ghana, Mr. Stéphane Roudet, said economic growth in 2024 was higher than expected, underpinned by strong mining and construction activity.
From his team’s observation, the external sector has seen a considerable improvement, driven by solid exports—particularly gold and to a lesser extent oil—and higher remittances.
This, he said, reflected on international reserves accumulated which exceeded the ECF-supported programme targets.
“Notwithstanding these achievements, overall performance under the IMF-supported programme deteriorated markedly at end-2024.”
It cited slippages in the run-up to the 2024 general elections which mirrored in the high inflation rate, several delayed reforms and policy actions in the fiscal, financial, and energy sectors for the deterioration.
Against this backdrop, it observed that the new government had taken bold measures to address policy slippages and ensure the programme objectives remain within reach.
“On the fiscal front, the government has launched an audit of the payables to firm up the size and nature of the slippages. Based on preliminary estimates of new payables, the primary balance posted a deficit of some 3¼ percent of GDP (compared to a targeted surplus of ½ percent of GDP).
“To address these slippages, the authorities have enacted a 2025 budget that targets a 1½ percent of GDP primary surplus and adopted several public financial management reforms. The latter includes an enhanced fiscal responsibility framework and new rules to tighten expenditure commitments.”
The discussion also centred on possible additional measures needed to address structural weaknesses in the public financial management and procurement systems; steps to ensure fiscal execution remains consistent with program objectives; and strengthening key social protection programmes to cushion the most vulnerable from the impact of high inflation and ongoing policy adjustment.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
