President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, has expressed hope that Ghana’s recent engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be the last bailout programme the country will ever require.
Speaking during a community engagement at Ndewura Jakpa Senior High School as part of his two-day Resetting Ghana Tour of the Savannah Region, President Mahama highlighted what he described as the growing resilience and recovery of the Ghanaian economy.
According to him, his administration inherited the IMF programme from the previous government at a time when all the agreed performance indicators had gone off track, putting the programme at risk of collapse.
“We have also come to the end of the IMF program. We inherited the IMF program from the previous government. At the time we took over from the previous government, all the agreed performance indicators were out of track. It meant that the program was in danger of derailment” he said.
President Mahama explained that upon assuming office, his government had to implement difficult but necessary measures to restore confidence in the programme and bring it back on course.
“And so in the first quarter, after we took over, we had to take some stringent action to bring the program back into alignment and bring it back on track. And I’m happy to report that we’re able to do that” he said.
He further disclosed that the final IMF review mission recently concluded its work in Ghana and had given the country positive marks for its performance under the programme.
“The first mission that came approved the program, the second mission approved it, and the final mission just left Ghana last week. And they have given us a satisfying mark for performance. It’s now going to the board, and the board will release the last stretch of $380 million to support the Ghanaian economy” he said.
Despite the progress made, President Mahama stressed that his government would not celebrate Ghana’s exit from the IMF programme, insisting that significant work still remains to stabilise and strengthen the economy.
“But we’re not going to have a Kenkey party because we believe that it is still a work in progress. Unlike others who left the IMF and held Waakye and Kenkey parties happy to be free from the IMF, we are not doing that because we know that the economy still needs a lot of work to be done” he said.
The President also announced that government had reached an agreement with the IMF to transition from the current Extended Credit Facility arrangement to a Policy Coordination Instrument, which will focus on monitoring reforms and maintaining fiscal discipline without additional bailout support.
“And so we’ve agreed with the IMF to replace their extended credit facility with a policy coordination instrument. It means that every six months, we and the IMF will sit down and look at how our reforms are going and see whether we’re still maintaining the kind of discipline that we started with or things are not going very well. And so we’ll still have a program, technical assistance with the IMF, but it will not be exactly a program. And there’s no bailout involved in this” he said.
President Mahama expressed optimism that Ghana would be able to manage its economy independently in the future without relying on international bailouts.
“And it is my hope that this is the last time that Ghana will go to the IMF for a bailout. We must be able to manage our affairs in such a way that we don’t go capping hands, begging anybody to come and bail us out. Now, our economy is expanding at a fast rate” he said.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh(#RomeoWrites✍️)/Ahotoronline.com | Ghana 🇬🇭
