Meet Carlo Sdralevich; leader of the IMF Mission to Ghana

Officials from the International Monetary Fund arrived in Ghana on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, to commence negotiations with the government of Ghana starting July 6.

The negotiations will border on the modalities for a package to support Ghana’s economy.

The team will be led by Carlo Sdralevich, who is a renowned economist and negotiator at the Fund.

He has worked at the institution for about 22 years across many divisions and carried out key tasks.

Sdralevich has vast experience and has led the day-to-day work on mission teams across countries.

He has in various capacities led general oversight on economists (including Economist Program), research analysts, administrative assistants, and field office staff.

He is also a lead negotiator and monitor of IMF programmes for countries.

Sdralevich, who is expected to lead the IMF mission team to Ghana for formal engagements, is currently serving as the Division Chief for Western III division, covering Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Togo.

Prior to his team’s arrival in Ghana, the IMF Mission Chief in a statement noted the Fund’s readiness to assist Ghana to restore macroeconomic stability, safeguard debt sustainability, among others.

“On the basis of a request from the Ghanaian authorities, an IMF staff team will in the coming days kick-start discussions on a possible program to support Ghana’s homegrown economic policies. We are at an early stage in the process, given that detailed discussions are yet to take place.

“The IMF stands ready to assist Ghana to restore macroeconomic stability, safeguard debt sustainability, and promote inclusive and sustainable growth, and address the impact of the war in Ukraine and the lingering pandemic. We are looking forward to our engagement with the authorities in Accra,” Sdralevich stated.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on July 1, authorized the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to hold formal talks with the Bretton Woods institution.

In recent months, Ghana has been faced with rather difficult economic challenges which have left almost all economic indicators in distress.

The country, in spite of some gains made during the COVID-19 pandemic, is facing a huge debt burden, revenue generation constraints and other factors which have placed the economy in a dire situation.

Recent developments around the globe, coupled with supply chain disruptions, the fallout from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have made the situation even direr.

Meanwhile, the government of Ghana is targeting about US$3 billion from the International Monetary Fund under an economic support programme.

This was contained in a document released by the Ministry of Finance spelling out some details of the government’s engagement with officials from the Bretton Woods institution in July.

The ministry explained that it seeks to secure the fund under a recently introduced innovative blended programme from the IMF dubbed; High Combined Credit Exposure (HCCE) policy.