The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has assured Ghana that despite not reaching an agreement with its Eurobond holders it will continue to provide more financing for Ghana.

According to the Fund, it has always fine-tuned its policies to ensure it can support countries in a timely and efficient manner as possible.

Answering questions from the press at the ongoing IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, the African Director of the IMF, Abebe Selassie said the Fund is hopeful of a positive outcome of the negotiations between Ghana and its commercial creditors.

“With respect to Ghana, again, discussions are ongoing just a few months after official creditors provided financing assurances and, the government is in good faith discussions with their creditors, and we hope that there will be an outcome. I should add here that the fact that they have not reached agreement with their Eurobond holders will not prevent us from being able to provide more financing, although reaching that agreement is of course important”.

“As of now there is no MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] with bilateral creditors, but we know that there have been intensive discussions in recent weeks and those are continuing, and we are very hopeful that there will be agreement with bilateral official creditors. To be clear, they have provided financing assurances though, and that remains in effect. And so, we are not envisaging that it will be an issue for our ability to conclude the next review and provide the disbursement that is pending. As we noted, we have reached staff-level agreement and that is by far the most important component for the review”.

“With respect to commercial creditors. I think we are grateful that the government shared with us some of the terms that are under consideration. Staff has provided an input on whether these terms were consistent with program parameters and the government has decided that they would not pursue this deal just yet. Again, I think we are very hopeful that there will be movement and that they can reach agreement consistent with the program parameters, helping lower Ghana's debt burden at the right level and avoiding, of course, people of Ghana having to make too much sacrifice”, Mr. Selassie pointed out.

He expressed confidence in the Ghanaian government to conclude a debt restructuring deal with its commercial creditors.

He concluded that “I am hopeful also that the private sector creditors are also approaching it with that view. But negotiations take time, and I am not sure I can give a timeline. This is something that is between Ghana and its creditors, so I will leave it at that”.