GHANA FINANCE MINISTRY, CENTRAL BANK FORM COMMITTEE FOR TALKS ON IMF PROGRAMME

ACCRA - Ghana’s Finance ministry has formed a five-member committee with the Bank of Ghana to lead discussions with the financial services industry concerning an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The goal of the committee is to “ensure orderliness and confidence in the government’s ongoing negotiations with the IMF,” the statement said.

A similar engagement will be undertaken with external bondholders, it added.

An IMF team visited Ghana last week for talks about a potential loan programme after the country requested support. It said discussions were constructive but that more work was needed on a debt-sustainability analysis.

Ghana approached the IMF for financial support in July as foreign investors dumped its debt and as street protests broke out over rocketing prices. A team from the Fund arrived days later to begin talks on a support programme and reforms to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability in the gold, oil and cocoa-producing nation. Discussions resumed on September 26 with a mission that ended on Friday.

The IMF said in a statement that its staff would now return to Washington for further technical work including assessing Ghana’s debt sustainability. “The discussions with the authorities will also continue in the weeks ahead. ... We reaffirm our commitment to support Ghana in these challenging times,” the fund added.

Ghanaian policymakers have taken steps to address the economy’s rapid deterioration, including cutting spending and implementing aggressive interest rate hikes.

The central bank raised its main lending rate by a further 250 basis points to a fiveyear high of 24.5 percent on Thursday, saying inflation and risks remained high.

The cedi currency is down around 40 percent against the dollar this year although its slide has slowed, aided by the disbursement of a $750 million loan from Afreximbank and the signing of a syndicated cocoa loan of $1.13 billion.

Ghana’s Finance minister last week said negotiations with the IMF would be fasttracked.