Former General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Agyapong, has revealed that the IMF are unhappy that Ghana’s negotiating team with the Fund is led by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
According to Agyapong, Ofori-Atta’s anti-IMF stance is well known and he’s sure the IMF would not be happy having to negotiate with him.
“I know how these agencies work and sometimes they want to be very diplomatic. I am sure they are not happy that he (Ofori-Atta) is the one leading the negotiations. in their view, they want a stark departure from what happened in the past,” Agyapong said.
“I expected the president to relieve Ken Ofori-Atta of his duties as minister of finance, he has not done it, that is his choice but we should expect very tough negotiations going forward and it is not going to be easy,” he added during a conversation with KSM.
Meanwhile, recent reports from Reuters say the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ghana are expected to reach a staff-level agreement on a loan deal by Tuesday at the latest, according to three sources with knowledge of the ongoing talks.
The IMF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Ghana’s finance ministry said they cannot comment beyond that the negotiations were ongoing.
Two sources said that the IMF program was expected to be an extended credit facility, which provides financial assistance to countries.
One of those sources and a third source said that major hurdles in the negotiations were overcome this week which sped up the process.
Source: theGhanaianVoice.Com