Ghana's third review under the International Monetary Fund program will come off in middle-September.

The Executive Board of the IMF should have met in July this year to assess the country's performance under the Fund program, however, it was forced to push meeting to September.

The information was contained in a responds to an email sent by JOYBUSINESS to the Washington-based lender to inquire about the status of the Executive Board Meeting on Ghana's third review. 

The fund had then argued that the action was due to government 's inability to meet all the requirements under the Fund program, for the board to carry out  the third review. 

According to the Fund, "per the mission that was held April 27-May 11, IMF staff have reached a general understanding with the authorities on the main elements that would support the completion of the third review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF)-supported program, including the prior actions to be implemented before the review can be completed."

The Fund further added that although, authorities have continued work in few areas including, including a new Public Financial Management Law, an Amended Bank of Ghana Act, a strategy to address the debt of State Owned Enterprises, and reconciliation of fiscal accounts for 2015, the IMF staff can only finalize the required documentation for the Executive Board's review "subject to above  work being completed." 

According to the IMF, "following the expected implementation of the prior actions, including adoption by Parliament of the new Public Financial Management Law and Amended Bank of Ghana Act, as well as clarification on the financial situation of SOEs to ensure that there would be no financing shortfall for the public sector, the IMF Executive Board could consider the review during the next quarter of this year." 

However, sources close to government and the Fund later argued that the Board has proposed August 29 as the new date if government is able to meet all the necessary requirements.

But in a statement released to JOYBUSINESS on August 22 by the Mission Chief to Ghana, Joel Toujas-Bernate, the Fund maintained, “Discussions between staff and the authorities are currently ongoing to update macroeconomic projections, firm up the fiscal outlook for the remainder of 2016 and ascertain that financial pressures in SOEs will not pose additional risks to the central government budget." 

Subject to a quick and positive conclusion of these discussions, staff expects the third program review to be considered by the IMF Executive Board around mid-September.”

Mr Toujas added that a visiting IMF Staff team in Accra last May assessed the implementation of the program to be broadly satisfactory and identified a few areas where further work and discussions were needed before the third review could be completed.

Since then several important legislations have been adopted by Parliament, including the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Bill, the Deposit Insurance Bill, the Public Finance Management Law and the Amended Bank of Ghana Act.

The authorities have also initiated discussions to address pressures that have emerged in the main State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the energy sector.

For some economists, the delay could have serious implications on the economy, as it may affect plans by government to go ahead to issue its fifth Eurobond after it was suspended briefly because of unfavourable market conditions.

The following weeks will be interesting to watch how the IMF and the government collaborate to reassure investors on the progress of work.

The delay could also  affect the release of some $400 million to Ghana from the country's donor partners, which could have come in quickly if the board had indeed met on August 29.

The IMF itself should have released some $116 million to Ghana, if Ghana had passed all the requirements under the   third review.