IMF revises Ghana’s growth rate projection from 2.8% to 3.1% in 2024

The Fund’s Mission Chief, Stephane Roudet, said the revision was based on signs of economic stabilization that are emerging for Ghana.

Addressing journalists at a joint IMF, BoG, and Finance Ministry press conference on July 1, the IMF Mission Chief said the current rate of growth has proven to be more resilient than earlier projected.

“Signs of economic stabilization are emerging; for example, economic growth has proven more resilient than initially envisaged, therefore we are revising our growth projection up from 2.8% to 3.1% for 2024,” Roudet said.

“Inflation is declining rapidly from 54% in December 2022 to 23% in May 2024, and Ghana’s International Reserve has been increasing,” he added.

The latest verdict on Ghana’s growth projection also follows the Fund’s approval of the second review of the country’s US$3 billion IMF Extended Credit Facility program on June 28, 2024.

This will pave the way for the disbursement of the third tranche of US$360 million expected to hit the Bank of Ghana’s account by the close of Monday, July 1, 2024.

This also brings Ghana’s total disbursements under the IMF ECF arrangement to about US$1.6 billion since the initial approval in May 2023.

Prior to this, Ghana successfully reached an agreement in principle on the terms of debt restructuring with Eurobond investors, involving approximately $13 billion of debt. Eurobond holders have agreed to a nominal haircut of 37%.

Additionally, creditors have the option to choose between two payment instruments, one offering an initial 5% interest rate and the other a 1.5% interest rate.