The Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr.  Mohammed Amin Adam has stated that government is expecting Rating Agencies to respond positively to Ghana’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme approval.

Dr. Adam is hopeful there will be a favourable outcome if the country is assessed again since recent ratings were influenced by concerns about the Ghana’s fiscal situation which is being addressed by the IMF programme.

He added that, government over the past 10 months has taken some measures to deal with some of the economic and fiscal issues raised by the agencies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C5NlG20gps

Dr. Adam disclosed this on PM Express Business Edition on May 18 2023 with host, George Wiafe.

IMF Programme and Ghana’s Economy

Dr. Adam stated that Ghana is expecting about $1.2 billion to be disbursed by the IMF.

This will depend on meeting some benchmarks and conditions under the programme.

 The remaining would be disbursed every six months again.

Dr. Adam is hopeful the deal will restore confidence into Ghana’s economy.

He assured that government will work at meeting all the conditions necessary to sustain the programme.

“There is nothing like difficult conditions that we cannot be addressed looking at the work that government has done over the past two years”, he stressed.

He added that government must be credited for taking some bold steps in already implementing some of the conditions ahead of time.

“Compared to other countries that had secured a deal from the IMF, we made some significant progress”.

Pension Bond Holders and their concerns 

The Pension bond holders had over the past weeks picketed at the Ministry of Finance over the none payments of coupons and principals.

Dr. Adam however disclosed that it has made some progress in reaching a deal with these bond holders.

Restructuring debts in Power Sector  

On the power sector, Dr. Adam stated that government has made some proposals to the Independent Power Producers on restructuring of the debts.

The Finance Ministry is optimistic that the proposal will be accepted by all stakeholders in the Energy sector.

“The restructuring window covers about $20 billion and government is working hard to make some progress on it”, he added.

“Government must meet the debt sustainable levels of 55 percent by 2028, and we hope that the creditors will corporate with Government to make some significant progress”, he added.