6 months ago
In an exclusive interview with the Graphic Business, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta said that Ghana anticipates over $2 billion from its development partners by the end of this year, which will significantly increase the country's foreign reserves.
The financial inflows would positively affect the local currency, which has been depreciating against the main foreign trade currencies, especially the US dollar, since the beginning of the year. This is anticipated to thrill the business community, among others.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already sent the government its second tranche of $600 million.
Additionally, the World Bank declared last week that it has authorized the first $300 million tranche of the three-year budget support facility, which totals $900 million.
Additionally, it is anticipated that the IMF will review its agreement with the nation twice more, with each review scheduled to release roughly $360 million in tranches.
A further $250 million is anticipated from the World Bank to operationalize the Ghana Financial Stability Fund, a special fund established by the government to assist the nation's banks that suffered greatly from the introduction of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) a year ago.
It is also anticipated that the African Development Bank will provide the nation with $50 million in financing.
It is anticipated that the $800 million cocoa loan, in addition to the other cash arriving this year, will provide a significant boost to the local currency.
Giving further details about the World Bank facility, Mr. Ofori-Atta stated that the government was now awaiting parliamentary ratification of the deal in order to authorize the transfer of the $300 million in World Bank funds.
In order to facilitate the delivery of the third and fourth tranches of the bailout monies, he said the administration was also confident in completing the two IMF evaluations.
"We had a lot of foreign inflows this year, which is fantastic. Since we didn't finish this last year, we have $300 million from the World Bank and $600 million from the IMF this year.
The finance minister added, "We have a cocoa loan coming in and another $50 million from AfDB. There are also supposed to be two reviews this year, which would unlock $360 million each."