Ghana’s program with IMF extended by one year

Ghana’s program with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, has now officially been extended by one more year and likely to end by the first quarter of 2019.

The IMF Executive board at its meeting in Washington DC today approved the extension of the program by one more year to allow the new government enough time to address structural bottlenecks, both at the Bank of Ghana and at the greater Government level.

This should mean that the program is likely to end in March or April 2019.

The board at the meeting also acknowledged efforts being made by the government to restore the program and bring about sanity in the management of the economy but raises concerns also in some areas.

JoyBusiness understands that even though government wanted the program to end in April 2018, the FUND believes that by the nature of their programs, with changing conditionalities at each time during reviews, it is technically not possible for the list of pending structural reforms and potential conditionalities to be fully tackled by next year. 

Initial comment from sources close to government

Sources said the Ministry of Finance has been notified  that the board meeting went well  and they are happy  to hear that  “  all the hard work  on both sides  has paid off”, adding that “ this is further  confirmation  that this government is on the right path  and they  are committed to the program and to its completion.  

Government is however silent for now on the one year extension.

 

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