Ghana’s IMF Loan Is In. Finance Minister Gives Full Details

The Bank of Ghana has received the first installment of the $3 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) from the International Monetary Fund.

The $600 million inflow, according to sources, arrived late on Friday, May 19, 2023.

An earlier report stated that the “cash disbursement” would be approved by the IMF Board when it considered a request for Ghana’s Program on May 17, 2023.

Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Finance Minister, stated in a tweet that:

“the Bank of Ghana informs me that the first tranche of $600 million of Ghana’s low interest $3 billion ECF facility has been received. These funds will be used for BOP [Balance of Payment] and budget support and will also help stabilise the FX rate and trigger a cascading effect on inflation”.

By June 2023, a further tranche of funds is anticipated to be disbursed.

This will be followed by a visit by an IMF Mission to Ghana in June 2023 to review Ghana’s program considerations.

Just prior to the final disbursement, another review is anticipated, possibly in December 2023.

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To meet Ghana’s requirements for its balance of payments, all of the funds will be deposited into the Bank of Ghana’s account immediately.

Ghana is supposed to get about $3 billion spread over a time of three years under the IMF program.

The IMF Program:

Ghana got the necessary funding affirmation from Ghana’s Creditors Panel under the G20 Common framework last week, which includes China.

This came after the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, indicated that Ghana will secure the financing assurance under the G20 Common Framework

She noted that the decision would help Ghana to unlock the much-needed financing from Ghana’s development partners.

“I also strongly endorse the call by the Official Creditor Committee for private creditors and other official bilateral creditors to commit to comparable debt treatments,” the IMF boss added.