President Akufo-Addo has implored countries considered to be allies of Ghana to support Ghana’s request for a $3 billion extended credit facility (ECF) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A staff level agreement (SLA) between Ghana and the Fund has previously been agreed upon, but the Executive Board of the Fund has not yet given its approval.
The President expressed optimism that it will happen by the end of the month.
On Tuesday, February 28, at Peduase Lodge in the Eastern Region, President Akufo-Addo addressed members of the diplomatic corps as part of the 2023 Presentation of Diplomatic Greetings.
He pointed out that already Ghana has had the tacit support of the so-called Paris Club.
“Just as we manged to achieve a staff level agreement with the Fund in record time in December last year whose terms were systematically fulfilling including the difficult but ultimately highly successful process of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, I am confident that with the cooperation we have received from the members of the Paris Club and the People’s Republic of China, which had sent a delegation from China’s EXIM Bank to Accra over the weekend to meet with officials of the Ministry of Finance, we shall be able to go to the Board of the Fund to conclude finally the agreement by the end of March,” he said.
“This will set the stage for the strong recovery of Ghana’s economy. Needless to say, we will hope that all Ghana’s friends will weigh in with words of support at the Fund.”
President Akufo-Addo conceded that the country’s balance of payment in 2022 was thrown out of gear as a result of many factors including the Russia-Ukraine war, plunging the country into “considerable difficulties”.
But he indicated that the move to IMF was for a “short term” to repair the country’s public finances.
Source: The Independent Ghana