International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission Chief for Ghana, Stéphane Roudet has expressed confidence in Ghana’s upcoming formalisation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with bilateral creditors regarding the country’s debt restructuring program.
He noted significant progress in drafting an agreement with official creditors.
“We are confident that formalisation will occur in the next few weeks, building upon January’s developments, allowing us to present it to the board in June. We are increasingly optimistic about Ghana’s program at the IMF board,” he assured during discussions with journalists at the Annual IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC, USA.
Emphasising the June timeline, Roudet highlighted the dedicated efforts of the team to meet deadlines.
“The report preparation and board circulation take time, but we are optimistic about progress by June,” he reiterated.
Discussions with commercial creditors
On concerns about the current negotiations with commercial creditors delaying, Mr. Roudet noted that even though it is not a major requirement, it is however important to make progress on the debt relief which must be consistent with the IMF programme.
“We also need good faith in place when it comes to the negotiations with the commercial creditors, and we are already seeing that. From that standpoint there is good faith when it comes to negotiations with the creditors”, he announced.
Fiscal discipline in an election year
On containing election spending before the elections, Mr. Roudet said the team is convinced by the government’s commitment to be fiscally disciplined.
“If you look at past elections, there have been fiscal slippages and therefore everyone should be concerned”, he added.
He pointed out that the IMF has observed some changes in the government’s fiscal commitment.
On high-interest rates, Mr. Roudet was hopeful the cost of credit would come down if inflation declines in line with the IMF programme.
“We believe that as inflation continues to go down, that could force the Bank of Ghana to also reduce interest rates”.
He added that the government is also reducing the amount of money needed from the domestic market. This he alluded may be contributing to reducing the interest rates.