The MD of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova has attributed the current economic challenge facing Ghana to external factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the ongoing Africa Climate Change Adaptation Summit in the Netherlands, Georgieva-Kinova said the current global challenge calls for broader collaboration among global leaders.
“We are also recognising that this shock has exhausted our people,” she said. “People are tired of the pandemic and now they are hit a second time with inflation.”
“In many countries, the fiscal space is gone. When you look at the debt situation, for 25% of emerging markets that is not sustainable, just think of Sri Lanka and many countries that are in this position,” Georgieva-Kinova said.
“Actually, we see a country with strong economy, with strong fundamentals like Ghana, in a situation, in which it is harder to tap into markets because of these exogenous shocks, and for poor countries, it is over 60% that are in debt stress,” the IMF boss said.
Ghanaian Government officials met with IMF representatives in Accra to discuss the modalities of an IMF loan. If the IMF is convinced by Ghana’s economic plan, the country would receive its requested $ 3 billion to help strengthen Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy whilst enabling it to build the much-needed buffers that would help restore macroeconomic stability as well as restore debt sustainability.