IMF agreement vindicates NPP’s economic record – Minority challenges gov’t’s fiscal claims

The Minority in Parliament has welcomed the Staff Level Agreement reached between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Government of Ghana, asserting that the development vindicates the economic management of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

According to a statement signed by Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Ranking Member on the Finance Committee, the agreement reached after the 4th review of the IMF-supported programme proves the resilience and sound performance of Ghana’s economy under the NPP.

The IMF confirmed that Ghana’s economy grew by 5.7% in 2024, surpassing the revised target of 4%. The external sector also saw robust improvement, with gross international reserves reaching $8.9 billion—the highest in recent years.

The financial sector recorded significant growth, with total assets rising by 33.8% and deposits by 28.8%. The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) also performed strongly, with the All-Share Index increasing by 56.2% in 2024.

Dr. Amin Adam emphasized that, “three important sectors of the economy—real, external, and financial—achieved greater successes under the previous government.”

The Minority also highlighted that Ghana’s debt-to-GDP ratio dropped from 82% in 2022 to 61.8% by end-2024, showing progress toward debt sustainability after successful domestic and external debt restructuring.

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However, the statement questioned the government’s handling of fiscal data, alleging manipulation for political gain. It criticized discrepancies in the primary fiscal deficit reporting, accusing the IMF Ghana Mission of altering its fiscal balance assessment method during the review.

The Minority insists the current NDC government cannot claim credit for the IMF agreement, stating that it is based on economic performance under the previous administration.

It urged the IMF Executive Board to uphold data integrity and reaffirmed its commitment to holding the current government accountable.

Read the NPP’s full statement below: 

PRESS RELEASE

Statement by the Minority NPP on the Staff Level Agreement reached between IMF and the Government of Ghana

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has today reached a Staff Level Agreement with the Government of Ghana for the 4th Review of program implementation. This agreement when approved will trigger the disbursement of $370 million to Ghana.

The IMF in a statement has confirmed that growth was more robust than anticipated in 2024. The economy grew at 5.7% against a target of 3.1% revised target of 4%. The external sector also exceeded target on account of the highest gross international reserves accumulated, which stood at $8.9 billion at the end of 2024. Also the Fund emphasized that the financial sector has been stabilized. The annual growth in Total Assets of the financial sector as at the end of 2024 was 33.8%; and Total Deposits by 28.8%. Similarly, in terms of liquidity, core liquid assets to
short-term liabilities grew by 46.3%.
The Capital market shows similar strong performance with the GSE All Share Index Year to Date growing by 56.2% by December 2024. Also, the earnings and profitability ratios also show that Return on Asset before Tax recorded an annual growth of 5.4% in December 2023 and 5% in December 2024; whilst Return on Equity after tax grew at 34.2% in December 2023 and 30.8% in December 2024.

Therefore, three important sectors of the economy achieved greater successes – the real sector, the external sector and the financial sector.

The Fund also alluded that Ghana was on course to achieving debt sustainability on account of the successful restructuring of domestic and external debts. This is because the Debt to GDP at the end of 2024 reduced to 61.8% from 82% at end 2022.

The Fund however expressed concerns about fiscal performance blaming it on accumulated payables and inflation which missed the targets.

The Staff Level Agreement has confirmed our suspicions that the government manipulated the fiscal data to achieve political objectives and to support the earlier claims by the President that the economy he inherited was run-down.

Whilst the Minister for Finance in the 2025 Budget announced the primary fiscal deficit on commitment basis (the fiscal anchor of the IMF program) to be 3.9% of GDP, the IMF found it to be 3.25%, a difference of about 0.7% of GDP. This is notwithstanding that the IMF itself departed from their own definition of the primary fiscal balance as defined in the Technical Memorandum of Understanding reached at the beginning of the program. By allowing multi-year payables to feature in the determination of the primary fiscal balance as if they occurred in 2024, the Fund Ghana Mission has effectively assessed the fiscal balance on metrics that vary from all the previous reviews conducted on program implementation. We are confident that the Executive Board of IMF will review the fiscal performance with integrity and ensure that our economy is devoid of data manipulation to restore confidence in the fiscal data of the country.

It must also be noted that reaching a Staff Level Agreement has vindicated the previous NPP government contrary to the new government’s assertion that the program had been breached and “tue economy criminally mismanaged” in the words of the President of the Republic. The Minister for Finance, the Hon. Ato Forson, declared during the 2025 budget presentation that the previous government had breached the IMF program because it missed the targets for the primary fiscal balance, payables and inflation. The Staff Level Agreement has proven that many of the targets had been met and missing these few targets could not collapse the program as the new government tried hard to communicate in furtherance of its propaganda objective.

The 4th Review of the IMF program is based on End-December, 2024 performance of the economy. To reach a Staff Level Agreement on these performance is therefore fully attributed to the economic success of the previous NPP government. The new Government has just finalized discussions with the IMF on its new policies through the “Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies”; which are yet to be implemented. The NDC government can therefore not claim any credit for the Staff Level Agreement and the subsequent approval by the IMF Executive Board.

The people of Ghana will recall that in 2016 under an IMF program, President Mahama’s government missed almost all the targets leading to a renegotiation of the then IMF program. The same cannot be said of the current program as it has not been renegotiated and is fully on track in line with program objectives.

As we wait for the approval of the Staff Level Agreement at the IMF Executive Board level, we want to assure the people of Ghana that we will remain committed to holding the government accountable to ensure that the sustainable path we have achieved in the growth of the economy and debt levels are not compromised.

Signed

Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam
MP Karaga
Ranking Member, Finance Committee in Parliament

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