Economist, Godfred Bokpin has downplayed suggestions that the approval of the 2024 budget is necessary for the country to receive its second tranche of $600 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Thursday, November 30, he said the 2024 budget is not one of the options highlighted by the IMF for Ghana to get the second tranche.

“In terms of what is needed for Ghana to get the next tranche of the IMF-supported inflows – the $600 million has nothing to do with the 2024 budget because it is very clear from the IMF-supported programme document on what Ghana needed to do in order to access the next $600 million," he told Evans Mensah.

His comments were in response to concerns raised in Parliament that the approval of the 2024 budget is critical to the country’s ability to access the 600 million dollars second release from the International Monetary Fund.

Those who made the claims suggested that any delay in getting the budget approved could have dire consequences on the economy.

But Prof Bokpin says what is standing in the way of Ghana accessing the next tranche has to do with the agreement from the official creditor committee.

“It’s not even the total external debt we are looking at here. We’re looking at the external bilateral, so we needed agreement from there for the IMF Board to consider Ghana’s first review. For that reason, we could get the $600 million. It has nothing to do with the 2024 budget,” he reiterated.

 With this said, he called on Parliament to scrutinise the 2024 budget in the best interest of the country.