Hon. John Ampontuah Kumah, Deputy Minister of Finance, has stated that political opponents who were skeptical about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement have been proven wrong by its success. Ghana is set to receive the first tranche of approximately $3 billion in bailout funds from the IMF in the first quarter of 2023 after reaching a Staff-Level Agreement on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility. Speaking on Eyewitness News, the Deputy Finance Minister said, “While achieving the Staff Level Agreement is not the final step, it is a very critical step towards receiving funding from the fund… Many people did not believe that it would be possible for Ghana to achieve a Staff-Level.
Agreement with the IMF within five to six months. Overall, we just want to thank the Lord for helping Ghana reach this level.” When discussing the steps needed to gain the IMF board’s approval, Kumah, a Member of Parliament for the Ejisu constituency, stated, “We strongly believe that with the same spirit of cooperation and working together, we will be able to achieve that within a record time.” He also refuted claims that there were not many consultations on the Debt Exchange Program between the government and stakeholders, stating that immediate bondholders were consulted. “We have to clarify the issue of stakeholder engagement. Let me state categorically that all direct institutional bondholders were fully engaged and consulted in the process. However, we could not exhaust all indirect beneficiaries, such as unions who are not direct bondholders. And of course, we couldn’t have consulted all interested parties. Even though the government has announced the program, we are still engaging unions and interested stakeholders who are not direct bondholders and beneficiaries of such schemes,” Kumah said on Eyewitness News.
