The Director of the African Department at the International Monetary Fund(IMF), Abebe Selasie has said that the IMF is not going to ask Ghana government to do additional adjustments.
He says that they are very hopeful that ongoing discussions among official creditors will also expeditiously allow them to conclude the discussions in a bid to get the third tranche released.
Mr Abebe Selasie noted that Ghana has done its part in the move to get the Fund to release the third tranche. It is now left with the external creditors to fulfill their part to get the board to approve the disbursement, he said.
Answering questions at a session at the World Bank Bank, IMF Spring Meetings in Washington on Thursday, April 18, he said “Whereas it took nine months or more for Zambia to get the official creditor committee to be created, in Ghana’s case it was very rapid and that is what allowed us to go to the board and get the programme approved.
“We are very hopeful that ongoing discussions among official creditors will also expeditiously allow us to conclude the upcoming review. Again the most recent mission reached an agreement with the government on policies that are needed to tackle the most recent issues and also put in place an important budget for next year.
“So Ghana has done its fair share and it is for creditors to take steps on this, we are not going to ask the government to do more adjustments because creditors haven’t asked either. So we will provide all the information necessary so creditors can move, allowing us to go to the board as soon as possible.”
The Finance Ministery had announced that the government had reached an interim agreement with international Bondholders.
To that end, the Ministry said the government would continue its negotiations until they reach a deal that is consistent with IMF debt sustainability targets.
“Update on External Debt Operations: Ghana and Bondholders reached an interim deal, which must still be tweaked to meet IMF debt sustainability targets. We will therefore regroup to continue negotiations until we reach a deal that is consistent with IMF debt sustainability targets,” he wrote on X.
