The first tranche of the $3 billion International Monetary Fund Extended Credit Facility (ECF) has been credited to the Bank of Ghana’s account.

Joy Business has learnt that the $600 million inflow arrived late afternoon of Friday, May 19, 2023.

Joy Business had earlier reported that the IMF Board will approve the “cash disbursement” as soon as it considers a request for Ghana’s Programme on Wednesday May 17, 2023.

A tweet from the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta stated that “the Bank of Ghana informs me that the first tranche of $600 million of Ghana’s low interest $3 billion ECF facility has been received. These funds will be used for BOP [Balance of Payment] and budget support and will also help stabilise the FX rate and trigger a cascading effect on inflation”.

Another tranche of funds is also expected to be disbursed by June 2023.

This will be followed by a visit by an IMF Mission to Ghana in June 2023 to review Ghana’s programme considerations.

Another review is expected just before the end of 2023, possibly in December 2023, before the final disbursement. 

All the funds will be paid directly into the Bank of Ghana’s account to support Ghana’s balance of payments needs.

Ghana is expected to get about $3 billion spread over a period of three years under the IMF programme.

Ghana’s IMF Progrmme

Ghana secured the required financing assurance from Ghana’s Creditors Committee under the G20 Common Framework last week, which includes China.

This came after the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, indicated that Ghana will secure the financing assurance under the G20 Common Framework

She noted that the decision would help Ghana to unlock the much-needed financing from Ghana’s development partners.

“I also strongly endorse the call by the Official Creditor Committee for private creditors and other official bilateral creditors to commit to comparable debt treatments,” the IMF boss added.