Citi Business News <\/strong>said Government is seeking to extend the Extended Credit Facility program with the IMF to December 2018.<\/p>\nAccording to him, even though the extension has not been finalized by both parties, discussions are underway on the matter which featured heavily on the agenda during a visit by the IMF assessment team to Ghana last week.<\/p>\n
Ghana entered into a three year program with the IMF on April, 2015 for a total amount 918 million US dollars which was expected to be disbursed in eight equal tranches.<\/p>\n
The programme aims to restore debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability in the country to foster a return to high growth and job creation, while protecting social spending.<\/p>\n
There were earlier assertions that the IMF would insist on the conditions and extend the duration for the programme for the Nana Akufo Addo government.<\/p>\n
Dr. Akoto Osei however stated that the request for extension was rather raised by the Government Economic Team during deliberations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIMF on its own cannot do that [extension of the programme] , that must be negotiated with Ghana. They have discussed it but nothing has been signed yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Akoto Osei explained that initial assessment by the economic team may point to the fact that more time would be required to fully implement and achieve the targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginally the programme was expected to end on April, 2018 but I know they are discussing extending it to December 2018 that may be coming at the request of government not the IMF. They can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 The time is too short for now. So the government thought that it may be useful to end in December rather than in April,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a proposal until the mission that came to do the assessment come back to government. Once they discuss it\u00a0 then there will be another meeting\u00a0 to formally make the request. The government has discussed that possibility with the IMF but nothing has been signed yet,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
Govt announced review<\/strong><\/p>\nDuring \u00a0his appearance at Parliament\u2019s Appointment Committee, the Senior Minister \u00a0Yaw Osafo-Maafo stated that government will make some recommendations on the conditions set by the IMF.<\/p>\n
One the conditions set by the fund was zero financing from the central government, which was rejected by lawmakers in 2016 during the review of the Bank of Ghana Act.<\/p>\n
However the previous government by principle went ahead to implement zero financing from the Bank of Ghana.<\/p>\n
Mr. Osafo-Maafo however hinted that government may access financing from the central bank since it requires fiscal space.<\/p>\n
According to Mr. Osafo-Maafo, the IMF agreement did not go before parliament hence does not have any legal binding on government.<\/p>\n
Finance Minister expressed hope in IMF<\/strong><\/p>\nDuring the IMF visit, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta described the meeting as fruitful since some common grounds were reached during the initial discussions.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ofori \u2013Atta assured that government is committed to complenting the programme with the fund.<\/p>\n
IMF lauds NPP\u2019s tax cut policy<\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was confident the plans outlined by the NPP government to cut down and eliminate some taxes will restore fiscal discipline, promote debt sustainability and support private sector development.<\/p>\nThe fund argued that such decisions should also help reduce the large fiscal slippages observed last year.<\/p>\n
A statement released by the visiting IMF team whose meeting ended on [February 10, 2017], however, indicated that Ghana\u2019s economy continues to face challenges.<\/p>\n
According to the team, though the country\u2019s 2016 estimated economic growth of 3.6% exceeded the Fund\u2019s target of 3.3%, \u00a0the decline in inflation has been slower than expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe large fiscal slippages observed last year will, indeed, require strong efforts of fiscal consolidation to support debt sustainability. The new government\u2019s intentions to reduce tax exemptions, improve tax compliance and review the widespread earmarking of revenues should help in this regard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome the new government\u2019s intention to conduct a full audit of outstanding obligations, its commitment to transparency and its readiness to take strong remedial actions to ensure the integrity of the PFM systems going forward,\u201d the statement by the visiting team added.<\/p>\n
The team led by Toujas-Bernat\u00e9 met with Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia; Senior Minister Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo; Finance Minister Hon. Kenneth Ofori-Atta; Minister of Food and Agriculture Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto; Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku; other senior officials; and Ghana\u2019s development partners.<\/p>\n
The IMF programme<\/strong><\/p>\nGhana in 2015 signed onto a 918 million dollar extended credit facility programme with the fund.<\/p>\n
Ghana has so far received a total of about US$464.6 million as disbursements from the IMF. The latest was on September 28, 2016.<\/p>\n
The programme aims to restore debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability in the country to foster a return to high growth and job creation, while protecting social spending.<\/p>\n
The deal which was not approved by Parliament has been heavily criticized by the new government, raising concerns that it will be reviewed under their tenure.<\/p>\n
Calls for the renegotiation of the deal however have attracted mixed reactions from economists.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Lawrence Segbefia\/citibusinessnews.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Citi Business News can confirm that Government\u00a0is considering extending Ghana’s program with the International Monetary Fund(IMF). Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei who confirmed the move to Citi Business News said Government is seeking to extend the Extended Credit Facility program with the IMF to December 2018. According to him, even though […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[121,32,171,10,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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