Source: newsthemegh.com
It has surfaced that the Ghanaian government has received approval from the Official Creditor Committee for the term agreement, allowing the IMF Executive Board to disburse the second tranche of the $3 billion extended credit facility, which consists of $600 million.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta corroborated the story, saying, “We are receiving the draft term sheet today, so I think we are about done.”
“We’ll investigate the specifics, but after that, it’s good enough for the IMF to carry on, so everything’s good,”
For Ghana to approach the IMF Board in order to request approval of the Staff Level Agreement (SLA) for October 6, 2023, for the first review under the $3 billion ECF program, a basic understanding of the matter suffices.
The second distribution of $600 million will be made possible within days with the approval of the IMF Board.
In October, Abebe Selassie, the Director of the IMF for Africa, acknowledged Ghana’s outstanding advancements and confirmed that the country had fulfilled its responsibility.
“I have to tell you that, in Ghana’s case, it was fairly rapid to get the official creditor committee created, whereas in Zambia, it took about nine months or more,” he said, adding, “Ghana has done its fair share and it’s for the creditors to take steps.”
Yet, talks between Ghana and its official creditors were making “promising progress,” according to Leandro Medina, the IMF’s Resident Representative for Ghana.
”It is anticipated that the approval of the IMF Board will “trigger” an additional $550 million in World Bank funding. The Bank has committed $250 million to Ghana’s Financial Stability Fund and $300 million in budgetary support.
All of these monies are anticipated by the end of February 2024, and a statement affirmed that they will have a significant and favorable impact on Ghana’s reserve position and currency rate stability.