Government is upbeat about Ghana’s receipt of the second tranche of the US$ 3billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta believes, Ghana will meet the criteria for the disbursement of the next US$600.
This comes after the recent assessment by the Fund’s visiting staff. Government expects the second tranche in September 2023.
“Between cabinet and parliament, so far we’ve gone through the qualitative performance criteria. So, we expect that the review will go well in September to get a Staff-Level Agreement. We’ll go to the Board in November and we’re sure we can get it”, the Minister told journalists in Accra.
“We had an IMF Staff visit about three weeks ago which went very well and we’re expecting that review in September”, the Minister added.
After the arrangement was authorized for Ghana, it enabled an immediate disbursement US$600 million with the rest expected to be disbursed in tranches every six months, after programme evaluations agreed by the IMF Executive Board.
The IMF deal comes at a time when Ghana is facing a number of economic challenges, including high inflation, a depreciating currency, and a widening budget deficit amid a worsening debt stock.