President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) Dr Joseph Obeng has said the business community in Ghana is excited about the approval of the $ 3 billion bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He said the businesses expect the programme to establish investor confidence in the local economy and also shore up the strength of the Cedi.
Speaking on News 360, on T3 Thursday, May 18, he said “All that we seek as a business community and even the government at large is confidence in the system and credibility.
“All that we seek as businesses is to ensure that there is stability in our local currency and this is exactly what we believe the IMF deal is going to help us solve, we are very excited and waiting for the outcome.
“We believe that deal is going to help stabilize the local currency where the cost of doing business will come down.”
The IMF Mission Chief for Ghana Stéphane Roudet said that the bailout would ensure macroeconomic stability in Ghana’s economy.
Similarly, he said, it would lead to inclusive economic growth in the coming months.
Mr Stéphane Roudetalso said the programme would result in reforms to encourage private sector investments and also build international reserves.
“There will be reforms in the energy and cocoa sectors,” he said during a joint Ghana -IMF press conference in Washington on Thursday, May 18.
“It will be restoring macroeconomic stability, for higher and more inclusive growth. It has reforms that will make the economy more resilient and likely to withstand shock in the future,” he added.
At the same press conference, Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said there is no rush on the part of the government to return to the international capital market to borrow following the coming on board the $3billion bailout.
He said during a joint Ghana-IMF press conference in Washington on Thursday, May 18 when asked a question about Ghana returning to the capital market that “In addition to the revenue measures that we saw in the budget that are improving at GRA and that will give us the resource to move forward, curtailing and managing our expenditures are going to be important.
“There is no rush in going back to the international capital market, our expectation is that in managing our expenditure and increasing our revenue we will have the resources to do it, working towards the capital market is important because we don’t get our ratings up and make the country more attractive for investors, especially FDIs. So no one is rushing to the capital market at this juncture.”
The Board of the Fund unanimously approved Ghana’s bailout on Wednesday, May 17 at a meeting in Washington after Ghana secured the Paris Club financing assurance on Friday, May 12.