Christine Lagarde
Managing Director (MD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, is scheduled to visit Ghana from 16-18 December 2018.
The visit comes weeks ahead of Ghana’s completion of the IMF programme.
Deputy Minister of Information, Pius Enam Hadzide, made this known to journalists yesterday in Accra during the Information Ministry’s bi-weekly press briefing.
He said the IMF boss would visit four nations in Africa; Ghana, South Africa, Angola and Seychelles.
According to him, “The visit of the IMF boss marks an appreciation of our policy direction and solid economic fundamentals. Our fiscal rules which ensure irreversibility signal to the world that Ghana is ready for investments.”
The deputy minister intimated that “aside showing the world that doing business with us is a move in the right direction, the visit of Madame Lagarde has the potential to unlock for us, as a nation, good coupon rates on the international bonds market.”
It would be recalled that the Executive Board of the IMF approved a loan of $918 million for Ghana under previous Mahama administration in April 2015 to promote growth and address several challenges.
In August 2017, the Akufo-Addo administration finally agreed to extend the IMF programme to December 2018 after several reports that it was not going to be extended.
Details
The deputy minister explained that on Monday, December 17, Madame Lagarde would participate in the ‘Future of Work in sub-Saharan Africa Conference’ in Accra.
The day’s conference, he said, would provide the opportunity for the Managing Director to engage thought-leaders and influencers from sub-Saharan Africa on the future of work.
According to him, the stakeholders would discuss policies required to create jobs for the continent’s growing population, as well as how the region can manage and leverage the impact of technological change, demographics, climate change and the course of globalization.
He said Madame Lagarde would on the same day hold bilateral talks with President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra.
“She is also expected to have lunch with some Ghanaian women entrepreneurs who are doing well in their field of work.”
Mr. Hadzide said “on Tuesday 18th December, the IMF Managing Director will give a keynote address at a forum in Accra to be attended by government agencies, Central Bank, private sector, think tanks, civil society, NGOs and academia. She will depart Accra the same day for Johannesburg, South Africa.”
“It’s our hope that the visit of the IMF boss will further strengthen the cordial relationship between Ghana and the IMF on economic policies.”
By Melvin Tarlue