Ghana-IMF deal: Board to approve $360M disbursement in December

The Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to meet in early December to review and potentially approve a $360 million disbursement to Ghana.

If approved, this payment will bring Ghana’s total disbursements under the IMF’s $3 billion Extended Credit Facility to $1.92 billion.

The upcoming decision follows a two-week assessment 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.

IMF Director of Communications, Julie Kozack, announced the update at a press briefing in Washington, D.C. on November 21.

“Once the review is completed by the IMF’s executive board, Ghana would have access to about $360 million in terms of disbursement.

“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.

She described the programme performance as encouraging, noting that Ghana has followed the requirements needed for the country’s debt restructuring.

“What I can say in addition is that the programme performance has been good. There has been in particular remarkable progress on debt restructuring,” she said.

“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.