The Immediate Advisor at office of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Stephane Roudet will now lead the IMF team to negotiate with the Government of Ghana for a programme.

This comes after Mr. Roudet was appointed as the new Mission Chief for Ghana, effective September, 1 2022.

He replaces Carlo Sdralevich, who will be taking on another assignment in the IMF’s Finance Department.

Why the Change?
According to the IMF, "this change is part of our regular rotation of staff assignments".

Who is Mr. Roudet

Mr. Roudet was previously an Advisor in the office of the Managing Director, working on a wide range of surveillance and programme countries as well as policy issues that include surveillance policy, LICs and fragile states, governance, inequality and gender, and structural reforms.

After joining the Fund from the private sector, Mr. Roudet held various positions in the African and European Departments, as a desk economist, working on several programme countries, and in the Middle East and Central Asia Department, as Assistant to the Director and Mission Chief for Kuwait, Oman, and Djibouti.

The IMF continues to support Ghana’s efforts to overcome the current economic crisis, and the staff team is working closely with the authorities on their ongoing economic programme.

Ghana’s Program with the IMF
Joy Business is learning that government could open formal negotiations in the last week of September, 2022. This is when the next IMF Mission is expected in town.

However, before that meeting, government should have its Domestic Enhanced Programme document in place, which will be approved by the IMF.

This should also include government programme on how it plans to restructure Ghana’s total debt stock which has reached ¢393 billion as of the end of June 2022.

The IMF has already been having some video conferencing with other government agencies as part of the broader engagement for the programme.

Expected benefits of IMF Programme for Ghana
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, has disclosed that Ghana could be getting about ¢3 billion from the IMF under a programme spread over three years.

But Joy Business is learning that expected financial benefits from the programme could reach $10billion under an IMF Programme. This amount, sources say will be spread over three to four years.

The IMF programme will bring some $3 billion that will be advance towards Balance of Payment support.

The World Bank might come on board with about $3 to 4 bilion. This will go a long way to support some projects in the budget.

Under programmes like this, the country’s donor partners will move to support Ghana. The country will will also be able to secure or raise funds from the international market as well.

Mr. Ofori-Atta recently told Joy Business that government plans to go to Eurobond market after it secures a Fund programme.