A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has lauded the government and, indeed, the Finance Minister for the swiftness with which the staff-level agreement (SLA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was secured.
Ghana wrote to the IMF on Friday, July 1 to seek an extended credit facility (ECF) to save the country from economic downturn.
Within five months negotiations have been completed and a staff-level agreement reached.
The agreement was announced on Tuesday, December 13 at a joint press conference in Accra.
Taking to Twitter, Mr Otchere-Darko, who sometimes serves as a lawyer to the Finance Minister, described the time frame for the conclusion of negotiations as “remarkable”.
He, however, could not stop short of praising Ken Ofori-Atta for keeping focus when detractors were “pushing the fake narrative that IMF had no confidence in the head of the Ghanaian team”.
To get to a Staff Level Agreement (SLA) with the IMF within 5 months & for the full amount requested is remarkable. It was good the Ghana team stayed focused; not distracted by those who kept pushing the fake narrative that IMF had no confidence in the head of the Ghanaian team.
— Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) December 13, 2022
The SLA paves way for Ghana’s application to be tabled before the Executive Board and Management of IMF for approval.
“That will happen very shortly after the programme has been approved by the Board,” IMF’s Chief Mission for Ghana Stephane Roudet answered a journalist after being asked when possibly the $3 billion will start hitting the government of Ghana’s coffers.
Will the $3b IMF deal hit Ghana's account soon? – IMF Mission Chief for Ghana, Stephane Roudet answers#TV3GH #3NewsGH pic.twitter.com/7177uwfeP9
— #TV3@25 (@tv3_ghana) December 13, 2022