The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board is scheduled to meet in early December to review and potentially approve a $360 million disbursement to Ghana.
The payment, if approved, is expected to bring the total disbursements under Ghana’s $3 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) to $1.92 billion.
This decision follows a two-week evaluation of Ghana’s fiscal data, which culminated in a staff-level agreement between the IMF and Ghana on October 4, during the third review of the program.
The Director of Communications, Julie Kozack, during a press briefing in Washington, D.C., on November 21, confirmed that once the IMF’s Executive Board completes the review, Ghana will gain access to the $360 million disbursement.
She also stated staff are working towards setting a precise date for the board meeting in early December.
Kozack noted that Ghana’s programme performance has been encouraging, especially highlighting the country’s notable progress in debt restructuring.
She added that the economic growth in the first half of 2024 surpassed expectations, inflation has decreased, and both fiscal and external positions have improved.
She stressed that continued implementation of Ghana’s policy and reform agenda will be key to restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, particularly in light of the challenging global and regional economic environment.
“We are working, our staff are working toward a board meeting in early December and will provide additional details on the precise date when we have them,” she added.
“What I can say in addition is that the programme performance has been good. There has been in particular remarkable progress on debt restructuring. Economic growth in the first half of 2024 exceeded our expectations, exceeded our projections. Inflation has declined and the fiscal and external positions have shown marked improvement.”
“Looking ahead, what will be important for Ghana will be the continued implementation of the policy and reform agendas, especially given the difficult situation that many countries in the region and globally face. And it remains essential to fully restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability.”
“And we will, of course, have further updates on Ghana when we release the staff report, when we publish the staff report after the board meeting takes place. And we are just about out of time,” she added.
