‘Star boy Ghana’ shouldn’t be allowed to fail – IMF MD

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has vowed to help Ghana secure a timely bailout from the fund to enable it return the economy to stability.

The Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, said Thursday that Ghana has a long track record of sound macroeconomic policies and must, therefore, not be allowed to fail under crises imposed by external factors.

Graphic Business's Maxwell Akalaare Adombila reports from the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington D.C. that responding to a question on when the fund hoped to approve the country's bailout request, Ms Georgieva said during a press conference at the ongoing IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington D.C. in the USA that approval could be secured soon.

She said the fund was racing against time to rally Ghana’s creditors for swift financial assurance, which is necessary for the IMF Executive Board to grant final approve to the request.

“Ghana has done well to use markets to tap markets to develop but it is now being hit by COVID and the Ukraine war

“So, a country that has long track record of sound macroeconomic management ought to be supported to return to market,” the IMF MD said.

“To tell you the truth, I am optimistic that we are going to move swiftly and so stay positive,” she added.

Ghana turned to IMF for a $3 billion bailout in July last year, when the global capital market for borrowing was closed to it while the cedi crashed and inflation surged on sustained debt vulnerabilities.

In December, a staff-level agreement was secured and a final approval has now been contingent on a debt restructuring exercise involving domestic, bilateral and commercial loans.

Ms Kristalina said the fund has been urging creditors to ease their demands to allow Ghana reach final approval quickly.

She also praised the “pro-activeness” of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in ensuring that the country met all conditions necessary for a deal.