[ 2016-06-30 ]

Ghana will not quit IMF programme - Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has reaffirmed the
government’s commitment to successfully complete
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
He said the government had no intention of
quitting the three-year Extended Credit Facility
(ECF) programme, especially when the consolidation
and reviews were on course.

President Mahama gave the assurance when he paid
a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei
Tutu II, at the Manhyia Palace yesterday as part
of his “Accounting to the people” tour of the
Ashanti Region.

He stated the same position at the inauguration
of two community day senior high schools at
Adebewora in the Atwima Mponua District and
Adugyama in the Ahafo Ano South District in the
region.

The President urged the IMF to work expeditiously
with the Ghanaian authorities to take the third
review report to the IMF Board, given its
implications for Ghana’s international market
activities, including the refinancing of the
sovereign bond that was issued in 2007.

He said the government was very conscious of the
fact that 2016 was an election year when it
decided on the three-year programme that would end
in 2017.

He made particular reference to requirements
necessary for the completion of the third review
of the programme and its targets, saying they
would not be compromised in this election year.

To expedite action towards the ultimate
completion of the third review, he said he had
given Executive approval for both the Public
Financing Management (PFM) Bill and the Amended
Bank of Ghana Act.

Following the approval, he said, the PFM Bill was
submitted to Parliament on June 25, this year,
while the Amended Bank of Ghana Act was expected
to be submitted to Parliament on Tuesday, June
28.

He said the government remained optimistic about
the programme and would ensure that all programme
reviews were successfully completed through to
2017 in view of the enormous benefits to the
economy.

Minister buttresses position

The Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Terkper, had
earlier buttressed the President’s position when
he told the Daily Graphic that statements that
seemed to suggest that Ghana could quit the
programme in an election year were unfounded.

In April 2015, the IMF Executive Board approved
Ghana’s request for a three-year ECF programme
with access amount of about US$940 million or 180
per cent of Ghana’s IMF quota.

The approved programme is consistent with the
government’s policy measures contained in its
home-grown policies that were developed in early
2014 and which were anchored on the Ghana Shared
Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA, II),
Ghana’s medium-term development strategy.

Mr Terkper said in spite of a difficult global
and domestic environment with regard to crude oil
price decline and energy challenges, significant
progress had been made in implementing the
objectives of the programme, culminating in two
successful reviews.

“This showed achievements in almost all
quantitative performance criteria and structural
benchmarks under the programme, following the
approval of the programme a year ago. All of these
are indications of the government’s strong
commitment and resolve to the programme, as well
as the attainment of macroeconomic stability for
stronger and sustainable growth,” he said.

He said in the view of the government, the third
review of performance under the programme was
successfully concluded at staff level in May 2016
following extensive discussions with a mission on
the implementation of the programme.

He added that the medium-term outlook and
policies that were needed to restore debt
sustainability and a return to high growth and job
creation, while protecting the poor, were on
course.

Third review mission

After the third review mission, the IMF staff
issued a press statement highlighting the fact
that implementation of the programme objectives
remained broadly satisfactory, as most
end-December 2015 performance criteria were met,
in spite of the more difficult global and domestic
environment.

“Originally, we expected the IMF Executive
Board to review and approve Ghana’s economic
performance under the third review in June 2016.
However, we have been made to understand that this
step will be taken as soon as a number of new
prior actions which are conditions to be met
before the IMF Board meets to approve the review
introduced by the IMF after the Mission in May
2016 are satisfied,” the minister said.

Some of the new prior actions include approval of
the PFM Law by Parliament, approval of the amended
Bank of Ghana Act by Parliament, a strategy to
address the debt and financial situation of
state-owned enterprises, completion of an exercise
on the reclassification of government accounts for
the production of consistent and reconciled fiscal
accounts for 2015, completion of work on the
strategy for banks’ recapitalisation and
approval of the Banks and Specialised
Deposit-taking Institutions Law by Parliament.

Expediting action

The minister said to expedite action towards the
ultimate completion of the third review by
satisfying the new prior actions, some actions had
been taken.

Among them, he said, was a draft of the strategy
to address the debt and financial situation of
SOEs which had already been submitted to the IMF.


He said following that, the Fund had requested
for more detailed data on the SOEs, as well as
their financial projections.

He also indicated that significant progress had
been made to complete the exercise on the
Government Account Reclassification and was
expected to be completed in the coming days.

Source - Graphic.com.gh

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