The visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission to Ghana on Monday began work to assess the country’s performance in completing work on some targets under the fund program.
The exercise could impact positively on the proposed IMF board meeting date and the release of some $500 million from Ghana’ donors.
The IMF team, which is lead by its mission Chief, Joel Toujas Bernate is expected to finish its work possibly by September 2.
The team is expected to look at the impact of the passage of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Act, which allows government to borrow up to five percent of previous years revenue from the Central Bank and how it will affect the IMF program.
It will also look at the state-owned organisations’ debt situation and how government is working to stop the financial bleeding including assessing their debt situation on banks.
It will also finalise work on the current fiscal situation in the country.
The visit has been influenced by difficulties in meeting some critical targets under the program, which forced the IMF to review the proposed date for its board meeting to assess Ghana’s performance under the third review on two occasions.
The IMF is now proposing, the middle of next month, however, this will be based on a quick and positive conclusion of these discussions.
But this uncertainty has not gone down well with some economists like Dr Joe Abbey. He is worried that the development could affect the economy badly when it comes to investments in the country’s Eurobond.
He said there could be very serious implications for the economy if the Fund is unable to give the approval of senior management.
Ghana, he warns, must watch out for rating agencies, newswires services and investors as the yields on the Eurobond may affect.
But the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mona Quartey believes government is committed to the Fund program and it will pass the third review.
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