Develop tough fiscal measures to restructure country’s rising debt – IMF to government
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), is urging the government of Ghana to take some tough measures to restructure the country’s rising debt.
This comes at the back of a new assessment of Ghana’s debt position which has raised a red flag.
The IMF noted that, the government must move quickly with some tougher policy measures to help bring the debt situation under control.
There have been suggestions that Ghana, may now have to look at some debt forgiveness from its creditors.
That, among others, are some of the issues that were discussed during closed door meetings between government and officials of the IMF during the spring meetings in Washington DC, USA.
Read: Burkina Faso government sacks MD of Air Burkina
These concerns of the IMF have been influenced by what they describe as not so good revenue position and whether government has got the space to raise the required funds to reduce the debt.
The IMF appears not to be that convinced about the proposed revenue measures that government is working on, however, the government officials have argued that the recent expansion of the economy about 5.4% for last year may bring the debt situation to levels that can be described as not so worrying.
They also argued that going forward, programmes and other initiatives that have been put in place would help bring the country’s debt situation under control.
Ghana’s debt stock in December 2021, stood at GHS 351.8 billion [80% of GDP], however, government has revised downwards the debt share of GDP to 76% from the previous 80% share of GDP.
