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The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) board has approved a first review of Ghana’s loan programme on Friday.
This allows for the immediate disbursement of about US$600 million under its US$3 billion bailout programme, it said on Friday (19 January).
The decision comes after the country reached a deal to restructure US$5.4 billion of loans with its official creditors, a key step to unlocking the second tranche of IMF funding.
“All quantitative performance criteria for the first review and almost all indicative targets and structural benchmarks were met,” the IMF said in a statement.
The authorities’ reform efforts have helped to improve growth, decrease inflation and increase international reserves, the Fund said, forecasting that the economy would grow 2.3% in 2023 and 2.8% in 2024.
In a joint briefing with the Ghanaian authorities after the announcement, IMF Mission chief for Ghana Stéphane Roudet said the tranche would be available to the central bank within hours.
The second tranche should trigger US$550 million in additional World Bank funding, Ghana’s Finance Ministry said last week – US$300 million in budget support, which the World Bank confirmed on Thursday, and $250 million for a fund to support financial sector stability.
