IMF bailout: We're confident of securing third tranche

The Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has expressed confidence that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will release the third tranche of the three billion dollar bailout once an MOU with the external creditors is secured.

He said this during a press conference after the Spring Meetings in Washington on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

“We do not have any reason to suggest that the board will miss this because essentially we have agreed to all that we need to do and the only outstanding issue is the draft from the official creditors this May if we have that there won’t be any lengthy negotiation.

“We have already negotiated and we have agreed to the offer they gave us in principle since January…so I can tell you, we are very optimistic.”

Ghana is expected to get approval for its third tranche of $360m when the Executive Board of the IMF meet in June, having reached a staff-level agreement on the second review of the loan-support programme.

Meanwhile, Abebe Selassie, Director of the African Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has stated that the fund will not require the Ghanaian government to implement additional adjustments.

He expressed optimism that ongoing discussions among official creditors will facilitate the conclusion of talks, enabling the release of the third tranche of funds.

Abebe Selassie emphasized Ghana’s fulfilment of its obligations in securing the third tranche, highlighting the remaining responsibility on external creditors to fulfil their commitments for the board’s approval of the disbursement.

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.”