2nd review: We’re on course to meet most of the targets under the IMF deal – Finance Minister

The Minister of Finance Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has said that a Preliminary assessment undertaken by the Ministry and the central bank shows that they are on course to meet most of the targets under the Programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said that the Finance Ministry is working with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) as part of preparations ahead of the second review of the programme.

In his first monthly press briefing on the economy in 2024, held on Tuesday, Dr Amin Adam said “The Ministry of Finance is working with the BoG in preparation for the IMF 2nd Review Mission. Preliminary assessment undertaken by MoF and BoG shows that we are on course to meet most of the targets under the Programme.”

Dr Amin Adam also pointed out that the Ministry is collaborating with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to prepare for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) second review mission, which is scheduled for April 2 to 12 following the successful completion of the 1st Review of the Programme on 19th Jan 2024.

“During the 2nd Review, the IMF mission will engage the authorities in technical and policy discussions to enable them to assess Ghana’s performance on programme objectives, the 6 Quantitative Performance Criteria (QPCs), the 3 Indicative Targets (ITs), 1 Monetary Policy Consultation Clause (MPCC), and the Structural Benchmarks (SBs) with respect to end Dec 2023 targets. They will also review performance towards upcoming QPCs, ITs, and SBs,” he added.

The finance minister emphasised that the approval of the 2nd Review by the IMF Executive Board, potentially in June 2024, will trigger the release of the 3rd tranche of US$360 million, increasing the total disbursements under the programme to US$1.56 billion.

“The 2nd Review will be the first of the two semi-annual reviews programmed for 2024. The 3rd Review has been programmed for Nov 2024,” he added.

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison also expressed confidence that Ghana will get a second positive review of the deal with the IMF which will result in the release of the third tranche.

He revealed that the team from the Fund will be arriving in Ghana in April for the second review of the $ 3 billion deal.

The country has already received two tranches, $600million each. The release of the third tranche will increase the total disbursements so far to US$1.56 billion.

Asked when Ghanaians should expect the third tranche while speaking at the 117th Monetary Policy Committee (IMF) press conference in Accra on Monday, March 25, Dr Addison said “On the third tranche of the IMF facility, we are expecting the Fund to come for a second review in April. I think they are going to be here for two weeks, during which they will broadly look at everything, fiscal performance, monetary policy performance, inflation, reserved accumulation as well as some of the structural benchmarks. This would be based on data at the end of December [Last year.]

“From our assessment, we are fairly confident of the performance at the end of December and are not expecting any surprises. If the review is successful, hopefully, the board of the IMF will meet by May or June and we should expect disbursements soon thereafter. This time we are not expecting $600 million, this time we $360 million.”

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