According to Kwame Jantuah, a private Attorney, the government must use the first $600 million of the $3 billion tranche in accordance with the terms and conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout program. Otherwise, he claims the nation would run the risk of losing the other tranches.
The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) member, Kwame Jantuah, remarked in an interview on Friday, May 19, “If we do not handle this $600 million first tranche well, the rest of the $3 billion won’t come in.”
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) anticipates receiving the initial payment of $600 million today, May 19. The central bank had already received an advisory notification about that, according to BoG Governor Dr. Ernest Addison.
Dr. Addison attended virtually from Accra and remarked, “Just for your information, we have had swift advisory today, [Thursday] to receive the money by tomorrow [Friday], 600million US Dollar” at the IMF-Ghana joint press conference conducted in Washington on May 18.
For his part, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta stated that the second tranche is anticipated to be received during the upcoming six months.
“There is a 600million Dollars release. I am sure we can get it by tomorrow, and in the next 6 months it is going to be another 600million dollars and then we have about five different tranches in the periods forward to get to the 3bn.”
Ken Ofori-Atta
Stéphane Roudet, the head of the IMF mission in Ghana, said that the $3 billion bailout would lead to changes in the cocoa and energy industries.
Additionally, he said that the program would lead to reforms that would promote private sector investment and increase foreign reserves.
“There will be reforms in the energy and cocoa sectors,” he said during a joint Ghana -IMF press conference. “It will be restoring macroeconomic stability, for higher and more inclusive growth. It has reforms that will make the economy more resilient and likely to withstand shock in the future,” he added.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, expressed gratitude to the Fund for their assistance. He said “We are already seeing relative stability in the currency and inflation and revitalizing our economy. Government with support from the IMF and collective effort with Ghanaians will work through our current challenges and emerge stronger.”
Following Ghana’s acquisition of the Paris Club funding assurance on Friday, May 12, the Board of the Fund unanimously approved Ghana’s bailout during a meeting in Washington on May 17 (Wednesday).
Ghana Not To Have Gone To IMF If Not For Russian-Ukraine War
According to Richard Ahiagbah, the Director of communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the government would not have sought assistance from the IMF, if not for Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.
He added that the Fund would not have intervened to aid Ghana, if the e-levy had been approved “without the partisan acrimony that attended it.”
In a tweet, Richard Ahiagbah said: “The NDC’s view that Ghana should have requested IMF support in 2021, was a piece of poor advice because the economy was showing positive signs of recovery from the Covid-19 slump in 2020, posting a 5.4% GDP at the end of that year.
“Had Russia not invaded Ukraine in 2022, and had the e-levy been passed without the partisan acrimony that attended it, Ghana would not have needed IMF support as we have it today.”
Richard Ahiagbah
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