Ghana hours away from receiving $600m second tranche following successful first review by IMF Board
The $600 million second tranche disbursement from the IMF under its 3-year ECF programme for Ghana, is expected to in a matter of hours hit the account of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The second tranche disbursement of SDR 451.4 million (about $600 million) by the Fund follows the successful first review of the programme by the IMF Board on Friday morning, January 19, 2024.
Speaking at a joint press conference by the IMF, the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Ghana, on Friday, January 19, 2024, Chief of IMF Mission to Ghana, Stephen Roudet said, “We have some excellent news to discuss with the completion by our executive board this morning of the first review under Ghana’s three year $3 billion programme. This allows for an immediate disbursement of about $600 million, bringing the total disbursements since the programme was approved in May last year to close to $1.2 billion.”
“The disbursement of the $600m to the BoG should be in a matter of hours and not days or weeks. This news marks an important milestone in the road to recovery for Ghana and towards building a flourishing economy that will benefit every Ghanaian,” he added.
Hence, the $600m disbursement is expected to hit the account of the BoG latest by midday today.
According to the IMF Board, Ghana’s performance under the program has been strong. All quantitative performance criteria for the first review and almost all indicative targets and structural benchmarks were met.
The IMF Board notes that reforms by Government are bearing fruit, and signs of economic stabilization are emerging.
“Growth in 2023 has proven resilient, inflation has declined, and the fiscal and external positions have improved. Progress is also being made on debt restructuring, with the domestic debt exchange completed over the summer and an agreement recently reached on the restructuring of official bilateral debt,” it added.
Meanwhile, Finance Chief Ofori-Atta is expected to meet the World Bank on Tuesday, January 23 to discuss the additional $250 million the country hopes to receive to boost the economy.
“The World Bank will meet on Tuesday, January 23. In addition, we expect the World Bank to approve $250 million to support the Ghana Financial Stability Fund. These resources, in total $1.15 billion, will significantly booster our economic recovery effort,” he remarked.
