We’ll renegotiate IMF, World Bank deals — President-elect Mahama

President-elect John Dramani Mahama has indicated that his government will review and adjust existing agreements with Ghana's development partners to better meet the needs of the public. 

This move aims to put Ghana and its partners on the same page regarding the aspirations of the people as outlined in the incoming government's election campaign.

The newly elected president said the adjustment was crucial and would help put the new government that will be inaugurated on January 7 “on the same springboard with our development partners to begin the rebuilding of the economy and the country.” 

Mr Mahama made this known during a courtesy call on him by the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations, Charles Abani, at his residence last Tuesday. 

The President-elect said his government looked forward to working with all stakeholders to return the economy to normalcy.

“So we look forward to working with you. Looking at the existing programmes we need to tweak them to meet the realities of today. I believe we have had discussions with the World Bank and the IMF already and we look to an early engagement so that we can continue to be on the same wavelength.

“In the campaign, several promises were made and we need to look at what the reality is in terms of sitting together and seeing what the way forward is. One of our main concerns is the issue of the debt repayments; we need to see how we can smooth them so that we don’t default again, which will be more catastrophic than the current defaulting,” Mr Mahama said.

IMF

While the country has a 36-month US$3 billion extended credit facility agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it has also signed multiple loan agreements with the World Bank, with the latest being a US$250 million five-year Ghana Financial Stability Project and a US$250 million facility for the Ghana Energy Sector Recovery Programme.  

The President-elect acknowledged that the journey to return Ghana on track from its dire economic situation would not be easy but said his team would work around the clock to meet the high expectations of the people.

“I don’t kid myself that it is going to be an easy task; it is going to be quite tough. I anticipated that we were going to win but I didn’t anticipate the margin by which we were going to win.

That is an indication that Ghanaians have a very high expectation and so in managing that expectation, I am trying to work as quickly as possible to meet those expectations.”

He appreciated the UN’s long-standing relationship with Ghana and expressed his new government’s readiness to work with the global body to ameliorate the suffering of the Ghanaian people.

“We know that in the last five years, the rainfall pattern was very erratic and so we are anticipating that there is going to be a problem with the availability of food and so how we are able to

quicken support to ameliorate the situation is something that we will like to work on.  

“With all the other agencies, UNICEF, UNHCR, we are happy to continue to engage to see how we can uplift the cooperation and the work that we do together,” he said. 

Global support

Mr Mahama said Ghana needed the global community more than ever before, “because of the crisis we still face or are going through”.

For his part, Mr Abani hailed Ghana’s 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections and committed to working with the incoming government to bring prosperity to the people.

Mr Abani said the seamless polls, which saw the opposition win with 6,328,397 valid votes, representing 56.55 per cent, had once again put Ghana on the global map as the model of democracy in Africa.

“This visit is to assure you that the UN stands fully with you and fully with Ghana; we know your presidency is just about to unfold, I can assure you of our collaboration,” Mr Abani said.