Ghana's President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has provided an explanation for why it took his administration ten months to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Before approving the deal, the President emphasized that a number of conditions, including the exchange of economic data, had to be satisfied.
He said that this procedure, along with other events, contributed to the deal's postponement.
When questioned about the delay in the deal's Fund approval on May 23 at the 3rd Qata Economic Forum, he responded, "We went in July last year and it has taken us July to May to get the programme.
The discussions with the IMF typically take time. In actuality, the 10 months that have been in the Ghanaian programme is one of the fastest on record.
“There is a whole lot of stuff that you had to go through in terms of change of data, negotiations, and making sure that the macro indices you are looking for are in the right direction. All of these may take time, Nevertheless, it is over.
“Now we believe that it is going to provide us with the foundation for redirecting the economy, repositioning the Ghanaian economy firstly, to regain the macro stability that has been lost, secondly, to be able to have better control over important details like the interest rate, inflation and then finally, also to position us to be able to be back to the international capital market which has been a source of funding for us for the first three or four years of our government. ”
The Board of the Fund unanimously approved Ghana’s bailout on Wednesday, May 17 at a meeting in Washington after Ghana secured the Paris Club financing assurance on Friday, May 12.