The planned International Monetary Fund, (IMF), board meeting to review Ghana’s performance under the 5th and 6th Review of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) is likely to be postponed. 

This is to give the government some time to deal with structural issues that remained outstanding as at the end of the 4th Review.  

Sources say this is due to real challenges that have emerged in meeting some prior actions and implementing some structural reforms. 
 
JoyBusiness understands the meeting that should have come on April 9 is now likely to take place by the end of next month or even shifted to the first week of May 2018 if the speed needed to address the issues slows down further.  

Checks by JoyBusiness shows that Ghana is not on the schedule for the countries or even proposed engagement for the IMF board on the April 9 date.  
 
Under the proposed schedule of reviews and purchases under the current ECF program, the available date for the completion of the fifth review should have been April 2017 by which time some critical structural reform measures should have been completed and paved way for the 6th Review which should have ready for the board by this time.  

However, challenges in implementing critical reforms associated with the 5th Review meant that it had to be moved to this year, for a combined 5 and 6th   assessment. Judging by the difficulty in implementing some of the measures and the pace at which progress is proceeding, additional delays in completing the fifth and sixth review could mean that technically completing the program in 2018 could be under threat and could flow into 2019.
 
 Some may even ask, why passing these reviews and even board approval so critical? Well, most of the country’s donor partners depend on the IMF’s report card, before the continuing with the disbursement of their funds for Ghana, and investors who would be looking forward to this report; before, they bring in fresh capital into the economy.  

The issue about investors having an interest in the program is not new and has plagued program implementation. 

Investors fear that in the absence of the IMF, sluggishness in implementing a tight structural agenda might wane and the country could return to its old way and relapse into an IMF program.

In the words of one analyst, the issue boils down to having the capacity and an internal institution with legal backing to supervise reforms.

But the country representative for the IMF, Natalia Koliadina insist the meeting would come on in April but was shy of confirming the April 9, 2018, date, a date which some government officials still insist on. 

She said, “We have made very good progress in our discussions. We’ve reached understandings on many issues but there are a few remaining issues which we need to sort out and then we expect to go to the board in April.

Well, I will say more generally in April because you know George that it is also related to our timeline in terms of producing our documents and you also know that at the time of the Spring Meetings and Annual Meetings, board meeting fall in between so it is quite difficult to schedule a board meeting on a specific day in April. So I will refrain from committing myself to any specific day,” she added.