Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has expressed gratitude to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its support in resuscitating Ghana’s economy.
The Finance Minister met officials of the und including the Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Morocco during the ongoing IMF-World Bank meeting.
In a tweet, the Office of the Finance Minister said “Great meeting with @KGeorgieva during the #IMFMeetings. Discussed recent achievement of SLA for first review. Grateful for strong IMF support, and calling on bilateral creditors to agree on debt relief terms as quickly as possible.”
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah had earlier expressed optimism that Ghana would make progress with its external creditors relative to the effort to secure the $600million second tranche of the $ 3 billion bailout from the IMF at the G24 meeting before officials return to Ghana.
Speaking on the mid-day news on TV3 on Monday, October 9 in relation to the meeting, Mr Oppong Nkrumah who is currently in Morroco said “As of Friday we achieved a staff level agreement with the Fund for the first review and it is going to the Board for approval after which we will get the second tranche of $600million
“Today, here, we are currently in G24 meeting trying to settle on the agenda that the global development partners have to look to.”
The Ofoase Ayirebi lawmaker added “The challenges are similar, the solutions are similar but one of the biggest things on our agenda is to make progress on our engagements with our external creditors and we are hopeful that we will make some headway before we return to Ghana.”
Last week, the Chief of Mission of the Fund, Stéphane Roudet, confirmed that Ghana’s economic recovery was turning out to exceed expectations.
“What we are seeing in terms of growth dynamics is better than what we were anticipating,” Mr Roudet said on Friday, October 6.
“I think this is very good news,” he added.
The IMF Chief of Mission was speaking at a joint press conference held at the Ministry of Finance with the sector minister, Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta, in attendance.
The press conference followed recent meetings with the IMF Mission over the $3-billion external credit facility (ECF) Ghana is currently undergoing with the Fund.
Mr Roudet was happy a lot of the indicators are improving and showing favourable signs.
“Inflation is coming down, international reserves of the central bank are going up which is also very important to boost confidence.”
He added that the economy is generally experiencing a turnaround.
“So, clearly there is a turnaround, there is an improvement and signs of macroeconomic stability are now emerging.”
He, however, cautioned the authorities not to rest on their oars but to strive to improve the situation.
Finance Minister Ofori-Atta expressed confidence that the country was on the right path to economic recovery.
“Already, the economy is responding positively, strongly to the news of the GoG and the IMF reaching an LSA for the first review and we are eager to leverage on this.”