Ghana has officially contacted the International Monetary Fund to seek financial support.
In a statement, President Akufo-Addo, said he had authorized Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to commence formal engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), inviting the Fund to support an economic program put together by the Government of Ghana.
The statement added that this followed a telephone conversation between the President and the IMF Managing Director, Miss Kristalina Georgieva, conveying Ghana’s decision to engage with the Fund.
At a meeting on June 30th, 2022, cabinet indicated its support for the decision.
The engagement with the IMF will seek to provide balance of payment support as part of a broader effort to quicken Ghana’s build back in the face of challenges induced by the Covid-19 pandemic and, recently, the Russia-Ukraine crises, according to the statement from the presidency.
This is the second time Ghana is seeking support from the Bretton Wood institution in seven years after the country engaged them in 2015 under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama’s government.
In February 2022, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, stated that Ghana will not return to the IMF for a bailout despite the mounting economic challenges.
According to him, Ghana is a nation of pride and will seek solutions to the current financial challenges it is facing within.
“I can say we are not going to the IMF. Whatever we do, we are not. Consequences are dire, we are a proud nation, we have the resources, we have the capacity. We are not people of short sight, but we have to move on.
“So let’s think of who we are as a strong proud people, the shining star of Africa, and we have the capacity to do whatever we want to do if we speak one language and ensure that we share the burden in the issues ahead,” Mr Ofori-Atta told the gathering at the E-Levy town hall meeting in the Northern Regional Capital of Tamale.
