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Ghana doesn’t need IMF aid to manage debt crises – Minister, Ofori-Atta

Published

3 years ago

May 12, 2022

Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has announced that the West African country is committed to managing its debt without assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The minister made the declaration at a press conference in Accra on Thursday. He also expressed confidence that government measures were moving the country in the right direction.

“We have committed to not going back to the fund because… the fund knows we are [moving] in the right direction,” Ofori-Atta said.

“It’s about validating the program we have in place and finding other ways of handling our debt.”

The minister’s firm stand comes in the wake of other African countries like Zambia, Somalia, and the Benin Republic struggling with their monetary and capital positions and hanging on to international organizations like the International Monetary Fund to way out of the mess.

Ghana’s public debt which was at about 77% of its gross domestic product at the end of 2021 drove the country into crisis.

The government under President Nana Akufo-Addo has put measures aimed at generating more revenue to strengthen the economy of the West African country.

The controversial electronic levy and the cuts in the salaries of public officials are all part of the measures to restore a depreciating local currency and reassure investors.

Ofori-Atta stressed that the country’s priority for now is to solve the country’s domestic debt, which has interest rates that are three to four times higher than foreign debt.

“We need to decide ourselves what structure would be useful to us,” he added.

According to the World Bank, Ghana’s rapid growth was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the March 2020 lockdown, and a sharp decline in commodity exports. The economy had grown at an average of 7 percent in 2017-19, before experiencing a sharp contraction in the second and third quarters of 2020.

Related Topics:Featured Ghana Ken Ofori-Atta

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IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

2 days ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

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Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

4 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.