Ghana will receive US$250 million in liquidity assistance from the World Bank in the third quarter.
The World Bank has agreed to provide $250 million to the Ghana Stability Fund by the end of the third quarter of 2023, according to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
The funds are part of the $750 million urgently needed for the Ghana Stabilisation Fund, a sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to cushion the impact of unexpected petroleum revenue shortfalls and to sustain public expenditure capacity.
"We are creating a stability fund to ensure that we can intervene in the event of insolvency or liquidity problems." "The World Bank has committed $250 million of that," Mr Ofori-Atta said on Monday at a news conference in Washington, D.C.
The news conference concluded Ghana's participation in the recently concluded Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) in Washington, DC.
The fund is intended to protect against future financial instability, allow the government to respond quickly to threats to the financial regime, and reassure investors that the government is committed to maintaining a stable financial sector.
It is also part of the expected donor funding for a $1.5 billion fund to assist banks and other financial sector players affected by the government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
"The government will put some money into it, and we expect World Bank resources to come through by the third quarter," Mr Ofori-Atta said.
The Minister also stated that the government was in discussions with the African Development Bank and other donor partners about increasing the Fund's resources.
Last February, the government obtained 83 billion from domestic bondholders through the DDEP to provide creditors with assurance for a $3 billion loan-support program from the IMF.
The completion of the DDEP also paved the way for the government to engage with external creditors on debt treatment, resulting in the Ghanaian delegation attending the IMF/WBG Spring meeting to expedite processes.
During the meetings, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, expressed confidence that "the [external] creditors will move, and we [IMF] will move quickly... "Remain tuned and optimistic."
Meanwhile, China, Ghana's largest external creditor, has agreed to expedite the debt treatment process in order for the country to receive the $3 billion facility by the end of the second quarter of 2023.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's war in Ukraine, inflationary pressures, exchange rate depreciation, and lack of access to the capital market, the loan-support program has become necessary.
The Government has assured Ghanaians that it would soon alleviate their plight through the Fund’s support programme, as weel as other homegrown policies and measures.
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