IMF to publish details of Ghana’s programme after possible Board approval

The Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has announced that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will publish full details of Ghana’s Economic Recovery programme submitted to the Fund for a bailout request.

He added that the IMF will also outline the necessary conditions associated with the programme, as well as the IMF Staff report on Ghana.

Dr Adam confirmed this to Joy Business in a yet to  be aired interview on PM Express Business Edition with host George Wiafe this Thursday May 19, 2023.

Dr  Adam stated that government has given its consent to the IMF to release the document after the Fund approves Ghana’s programme.

“Government is committed to transparency in everything that it does when it comes to the IMF programme and Ghanaians are going to get every detail as expected”, he said.

Dr Adam explained that the decision is part of government’s quest to ensure transparency after some Civil Society Organisations and observers demanded for a full disclosure of Ghana’s programme request.

Ghana Programme

The IMF Board is expected to sit on May 18, 2023 to consider Ghana’s programme request.

The Board is expected to review the IMF Staff report on Ghana’s request to approve and advance about $3 billion over the three year period.

This will happen after some conditions are met by the Government of Ghana.

The Board is likely to undertake the exercise after Ghana meets all the pre-conditions.

Fiscal Discipline under Ghana programme

Dr. Adam has assured that government will not compromises on fuscal discipline.

“The Request for an IMF programme is a cabinet decision and every government institution, ministries and agencies must fall in line with it when it comes to being discipline with our fiscal situation” he stressed.

He stated that government is committed to checking the budget deficit.

“We should not’s forget that the IMF programme comes with some clear benchmarks that should be before the country could get the other disbursements from the board”

Government’s expectations 

Mr. Adam added that government is hopeful of securing the programme on time to bring back confidence in the economy.

“We are also hopeful that the Rating Agencies will in the coming months respond accordingly to developments in the economy and do something about Ghana’s credit ratings”.

“We will also be working closely with the Bank of Ghana to help stabilize the Cedi” Dr Adam added.