IMF and Ghana agree at the staff level to review the $3 billion loan package

On Friday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that staff from the IMF and officials in Ghana had agreed to look over Ghana’s $3 billion IMF loan program a third time.

The gold and cocoa producer in West Africa is almost done with reorganizing its debt under the G20’s Common Framework initiative. This is because it stopped paying most of its $30 billion foreign debt in 2022.

“Ghana has made remarkable progress on its public debt restructuring,” the fund said in a statement. The program also did “generally satisfactory” work, the fund said.

The government said on Thursday that more than 90% of Ghana’s investors have agreed to restructure $13 billion worth of Eurobonds. This comes after a deal with two groups of creditors in June.

“The authorities are committed to pursuing good-faith efforts to reach an agreement with other commercial external creditors,” the World Bank said.

Ethiopia is the only other country on the continent that is still working to fix its debt under the Common Framework. Ghana’s debt repair is almost done. In an email, the Official Creditors group, whose messages are handled by the Paris Club, said they were happy with the progress.

“We see that the common framework process has gained traction and is able to move quicker,” it said.

The IMF said that Ghana will be able to get $360 million in loans once the staff-level agreement is accepted by the IMF’s executive board.

In May of last year, the IMF board accepted Ghana’s current loan program, which ends in 2026.

The government said in June that Ghana’s debt restructuring would lower the country’s overall debt by $4.7 billion and help its cash flow by a total of $4.4 billion during the IMF program.

“Economic growth in the first half of 2024 was much higher than initially envisaged,” said the World Bank.

According to government data, Ghana’s economy grew faster in the second quarter than it had in the previous five years. Interest rates have been lowered because of signs that inflation is going down.

Stephane Roudet, the IMF’s Mission Chief for Ghana, told a joint press meeting with the government that the fund expects to raise its growth forecast for Ghana, but he did not give a number.