3rd IMF review scheduled for Sept. 24 … Govt confident of meeting targets

A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be in Ghana from September 24 to October 4 for the third review of the country’s three year programme with the fund.

This follows the successful completion of the second review which paved the way for the release of $360 million to the country.

The third review will among others assess the performance of the country in relation to the performance targets agreed with the Fund under the programme.

It will assess the six Quantitative Performance Criteria (QPCs), four Indicative Targets (ITs), and a number of Structural Benchmarks (SBs) due by end June 2024 and those due before the Board date for the 3rd Review. 

Addressing the media at the monthly economic updates, Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam said preliminary data for the 1st half of 2024 indicates that the country was on track to meeting the targets for the 3rd Review.

He said it was expected that the IMF Executive Board would consider Ghana’s 3rd Review for approval by end December 2024, which will enable the Board to immediately disburse the 4th Tranche of US$360mn bringing the total disbursements to US$1.92 billion

Fiscal consolidation 

The Minister also noted that the country’s fiscal consolidation programme was progressing smoothly as it continues to reign in public finances towards achieving fiscal and debt sustainability. 

He said provisional fiscal data for January to July indicated that total revenue and grants at the end of the period amounted to GH¢89.4 billion (8.8 per cent of GDP), 0.7 per cent above the programmed target of GH¢88.7 billion (8.7 per cent of GDP).

Total expenditure (commitment) also amounted to GH¢114.1 billion (11.2 per cent of GDP), 2.8 per cent below the budgetary provision of GH¢117.4 billion (11.5 per cent of GDP).

The overall budget deficit (on commitment basis) was GH¢24.8 billion (2.4 per cent of GDP), against the target of GH¢28.7 billion (2.8 per cent of GDP) and the deficit of 2.8 per cent of GDP recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.

He said the primary balance for the period was, therefore, a deficit of GH¢3.8 billion (0.4 per cent of GDP), against the deficit target of GH¢3.5 billion (0.3 per cent of GDP).

Providing an update on public debt, the minister said as of July 31, this year, the country’s provisional nominal central government debt stood at GH¢761.1 billion, equivalent to $51.1 billion.

He said that represented a nominal increase from the previous GH¢587.7 billion, equivalent to $53.5 billion.

The increase in cedi terms and decrease in US dollar terms were attributed to a combination of factors, including cedi depreciation, disbursements from multilateral institutions and domestic financing of the budget.

“I am pleased to announce that the government is fully on track to achieve its debt targets under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme,” Dr Amin Adam said.

Source: Graphic Online