According to Abebe Selassie, IMF Director for Africa, the only outstanding issue was the confirmation of financing assurances from external creditors.
He however, noted that expecting a resolution to the matter are expectant when the Paris Club meets again this week.
Speaking at a press briefing on the sidelines of the April IMF Spring Meeting, he said all the measures required to present Ghana’s programme to the IMF Executive Board were complete.
“On the status of the programme with Ghana, we had reached staff-level agreement, as you know, last December. And we are now comfortable that all of the measures required for us to present the programme to our Executive Board are complete, except for the required financing assurances from external creditors.
“We are very comfortable with all the steps that Ghana has done, and that is why we are also urging creditors to step forward and provide the financing assurances needed for us to present the programme to the Board as soon as possible.
“We are very optimistic and keeping fingers crossed this will happen in the next few weeks,” Mr Selassie stated.
The IMF, he noted, is encouraged by the steps that the Ghana government had taken over the last several months since the programme request.
“It’s been a very difficult time of course, very difficult, very significant, measures that have had to be taken, and the initial steps that the government has taken are very encouraging,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, has commended Ghana for taking the bold actions necessary to enable it get support from the world for its economic recovery programme.
She further commended the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta as being proactive in engaging bilateral partners.
In an interview, Mr Ofori-Atta said “we have had a very positive and successful mission at the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, with a lot of goodwill and support for our economic programme.”
He said the government was expectant of good news about financing assurances very soon, to enable the country present its programme to the IMF Board for approval.
Ghana’s participation in the spring meetings also saw the formal unveiling of the roadmap of the Accra- Marrakech Agenda which would culminate at the World Bank/ IMF Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco in October this year.
On the sides of the Spring Meetings, the Ghanaian government delegation also met with officials of the United States of America (US) treasury, private sector investors, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the USDFA and the US EximBank, as part of efforts to strengthen the ties of friendship and economic cooperation between the two nations.
Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh
