Well done, stay the course – IMF boss to Ghana

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, has urged managers of the economy to stay the course after achieving “many good indicators in this short period of time” in the country’s programme with the fund.

“Your growth is better than expected, your inflation is lower than expected, the progress in debt restructuring has been faster than expected, and now the task is to cement what is achieved,” she added.

Ms Georgieva gave the commendation during a meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra last Sunday.

During her three-day visit to Ghana, Ms Georgieva — who used to be the CEO of the World Bank between 2017 and 2019 — met with the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia; the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison; the Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, and some civil society organisations.

Ghana secured a $3 billion IMF extended credit facility (ECF) in 2023.

This was after President Akufo-Addo had authorised the then Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, on July 1, 2022, to commence formal negotiations with the fund to secure a balance of payment support.

This was part of the broader efforts to quicken Ghana’s build-back in the face of challenges induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Ghana’s three-year IMF programme is in its first year of implementation.

So far, it has received a total of $1.2 from the IMF in two tranches.

Ghana

Interacting with the President, Ms Georgieva noted that this year, Ghana could not be more decisive because it was the period to bring confidence domestically and internationally at the level it was before or higher.

She said this was possible because the globe was witnessing a slightly better economy, adding that “the economic attitudes are better, and the critical resource of money would go (to) where confidence in the capacity of the country to perform is highest, so Ghana can be at this place (again)”.

On staying that course, she urged the managers of the economy to execute it with a sense of unity of the leadership of the country from top to bottom.

Ms Georgieva said she had met with the Governor of the central bank and the Minister of Finance, and commended them for instituting good initiatives that had made the reforms more inclusive.