Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam says the government is very hopeful its official creditors will play ball soon so that the next tranche from the IMF will hit Ghana’s accounts.

The Minister admits there has been a delay in the release of the money which was expected by the end of November despite Ghana working hard to do her part.

Speaking to Raymond Acquah on Upfront, Dr. Amin Adam clarified that Ghana is hoping that the external creditors would come through by the end of the year so that the IMF board would approve the disbursement.

He said, “What is outstanding is for our creditors, our external creditors to also make a certain decision which I believe they will make sooner, in order for us to tick all the boxes and then the IMF will have a board meeting after which the disbursement of the funds will be done.

“The discussions have been very positive and encouraging, and we are confident that they will make a decision sooner.”

Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Lord Mensah, however believes the minister is being too optimistic.

He has called for more pragmatism in the country’s negotiations with its external creditors.

“The current Finance Minister has been overly optimistic in his dealings as far as the economic management is concerned. I mean, he’s always banking on hope and hope and hope every now and then which the realisation of those hopes has been a problem.

“From where I sit, I mean we have a long way to go. I mean, in our negotiations with external creditors it’s not a straightforward thing and especially when you look at the diversity of our external creditor formation,” he said.