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IMF, World Bank praise economic resilience programme

Julie Kozack, Head of Communications at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has praised the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the government for their commendable efforts in moving forward with the nation’s comprehensive debt restructuring. Speaking during a press conference, Ms. Kozack said that the government’s vigorous efforts to alter policies under the program were paying off and that indications of economic stabilization were beginning to appear.

“Growth, for example, in 2023, was higher than anticipated, and the growth projections are being revised upward. Inflation has been declining rapidly, the fiscal and external positions have improved, and exchange rate volatility has declined quite significantly,” she noted adding that the authorities were making good progress on their comprehensive debt restructuring.

“The domestic debt exchange was completed last year, and on January 12th, the government reached agreement in principle with its official bilateral creditors. Ghana is also engaging with external private creditors to seek their support”, she explained.

The IMF said that growth in 2023 was stronger than expected and that inflation had been dropping quickly. It also said that the fiscal and external positions had improved and that there had been a noticeable decrease in exchange rate volatility.

The second assessment of the Fund-support program, which aims to present the review to the IMF Executive Board by the end of June 2024, was agreed upon at the staff level by the Ghanaian authorities and the IMF staff on April 13.

Ghana would have access to roughly $360 million if the Board approved this study.