Ghana to seal IMF deal by February

Ghana is expected to agree terms of an economic bail-out package with the IMF by February.

This was revealed by Professor Kwesi Botchwey, the head of the government’s team which is negotiating with the IMF.

The negotiations, which have been ongoing since September 2014, were stalled by some concerned raised by the European Union, which has withheld a £135 million budget support to Ghana due to an alleged payroll corruption scandal it said it was investigating.

But Prof. Kwesi Botchwey told Accra-based Joy FM that those concerns have been resolved.

“The irony of this payroll dispute is that the revelations that came out which were seized upon outside as evidence of some kind of crisis and fraud…are revelations that came about as a result of initiatives that the President himself ordered,” he said.

He said the issues had been discussed with the EU Delegation and an agreement reached.

The Prof. expressed confidence that the IMF negotiations will not extend beyond February.