Julie Kozack
Head of Communications at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Julie Kozack, has commended the government and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for making good progress on the country’s comprehensive debt restructuring.
Ms Kozack, who was speaking at a press conference, said the government’s strong policy and reform efforts under the programme were bearing fruit, and signs of economic stabilisation were emerging.
“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.
Growth, in 2023, was higher than anticipated, according to the IMF, which added that inflation had been declining rapidly, while the fiscal and external positions had also improved, as the exchange rate volatility had declined notably.
On April 13, the IMF staff and the Ghanaian authorities reached staff-level agreement for the second review of the Fund-support programme, which targets to bring the review to the IMF’s Executive Board before the end of June 2024.
Should this be endorsed by the Board, the review would grant Ghana access to about $360 million.
By Samuel Boadi