SONA 2023: Concluding Arrangements With IMF Will Not Restore Our Fortunes Overnight – Prez Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that concluding the arrangements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will not restore the fortunes of the country overnight but it will set it on the road to recovery.
According to him, Ghana will regain the trust and confidence of her business partners and the investor community, which will give the space to continue productive plans and policies.
Briefing Parliament on how the talks with the International Monetary Fund have been going since the announcement on 1st July 2022, the President said, his government is on course for the IMF Staff to present to the IMF Executive Board Ghana’s Programme request for a three billion dollar (US$3 billion) Extended Credit Facility by the end of the month.
A critical component of the measures we are implementing to address the current economic crisis is the debt operation, involving both domestic debt and external debt. The debt operation is aimed at returning the country to debt sustainable path by 2028, he added.
The President highlighted that his government is also making progress on the external debt negotiations since the Government announced an external debt service suspension on 19th December 2022 for certain categories of external debt, to ensure an orderly restructuring.
“This suspension is an interim emergency measure toward a comprehensive external debt operation which will contribute to the restoration of our debt sustainability in line with our request for a debt treatment under the G20 Common Framework. I want to express our appreciation to the members of the Paris Club and to the Peoples’ Republic of China for the co-operation they have so far exhibited to us in attempting to reach an agreement, and in their attempt to establish an Official Credit Committee. We look forward to their fast-tracking the needed financing assurances for IMF approval. We are confident that, with their co-operation, we will reach our March deadline for going to the Fund”.
Source: opemsuo.com/Effmen William
