Former President John Dramani Mahama has called on the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to work with greater alacrity to secure an IMF deal to bring relief to struggling Ghanaians.
In a post on Twitter, the ex-President said the current economic condition is ‘distressing’ and said the government must do all it can to secure a deal.
“Distressing! Every passing day makes our economic situation worse. Gov’t must work with greater alacrity to lock in a programme with the Fund in order to create a more predictable economic outlook,” Ex-President Mahama tweeted.
Distressing! Every passing day makes our economic situation worse. Gov’t must work with greater alacrity to lock in a programme with the Fund in order to create a more predictable economic outlook.
— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) October 4, 2022
His comments come as the government of Ghana remains locked in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a $3bn funding facility.
Following a recent series of meetings with IMF officials in Accra to determine Ghana’s debt sustainability, the negotiations are set to continue in the United States, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has announced.
Speaking with journalists after the signing ceremony of the $1.13 billion syndicated loan agreement on October 3, Ken Ofori-Atta said Ghanaian authorities will be in Washington DC in the coming weekend to continue negotiations.
“We are very confident that the discussions that we are having with the Fund will put us in the right landing zone. Officials from the ministry will go to Washington DC at the end of the week to continue with the discussions,” Ken Ofori-Atta said.
Providing an update on Ghana’s debt sustainability analysis, the Finance Minister said, “government is getting to a point of understanding the debt sustainability numbers with the IMF. I believe this programme will become a historic resolution as demonstration to other countries on the continent”.
Meanwhile, international ratings firm, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Ghana’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to Caa2 from Caa1.
According to Moody’s, the downgrade reflects the recent macroeconomic deterioration of Ghana’s economy which resulted in further heightening of the government’s liquidity, debt sustainability difficulties and posing an increased risk of debt default.
Source: theGhanaianVoice.Com