Government has submitted its economic document (Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic growth) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for programme support.
The document is expected to give fine details on how the government intends to restructure the economy and embark on the necessary reforms under an IMF programme.
The Director of the African Department at the IMF, Abebe Aemro Selassie, disclosed this to journalists at an engagement in Washington DC on the sidelines of the 2022 Annual IMF/World Bank meetings.
According to him, the Fund has made some progress by fast tracking processes for an Economic Programme for Ghana .
He also disclosed that the IMF is now assessing the economic reform plans submitted by government.
“The Government of Ghana sharing its economic plan with us, demonstrates its commitment as we have already agreed on the economic programme with the authorities.
“Part of the work that’s ongoing right now is to assess what exactly the debt sustainability situation is, and how the Government would like to address that once the work has been completed,” he explained.
He stated that the IMF is currently waiting for the completion of the assessment to finalise the discussions.
Status of IMF programme discussions for Ghana
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has stated the government would want to enter into a progrmme with the IMF before the 2023 budget is presented to parliament in November, 2022.
Mr. Selassie has also stated that the IMF has made significant progress with Ghana.
“Discussions are proceeding well, I would say, and much will depend on how quickly this reform plan can be fleshed out,” Mr Selassie said.
Inflation Rate Developments in Ghana
Touching on inflation, Mr. Selassie said Ghana’s high price levels could be largely driven by domestic factors, rather than externalities.
“There are some countries where inflation has clearly been driven more by domestic factors than exogenous factors and I think Ghana would fall in that camp”.
Ghana inflation as ta September 2022 stood at 37.2 percent.
However, the Bank of Ghana has argued that the slowdown in the month on month rate, showed that its policy rate hikes are working.
This is despite the fact the Bank of Ghana has come under serious criticism over the effectiveness of its policy rate hikes.
Government on IMF programme negotiations
Speaking at a news conference in Washington DC, Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen described discussions on the programme as “very positive”.
“Proposals that we have put forward, in terms of the reforms and the fiscal adjustments are in line with what needs to be done to turn around Ghana’s economy”.