Business News of Monday, 8 August 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-08-08IMF coming to Ghana not a guarantee for access to funds – Assibey Yeboah
Mark Assibey-Yeboah is former Chairman of parliament's finance Committee
Former Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, has indicated that the beginning processes by the government to seek financial bailout from the International Monetary Fund does not guarantee “anything”.
He stated that the longer it takes for the country to access the funds the worse the country’s fiscal position becomes.
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“A fund programme is not guaranteed. The IMF coming to town, and the President speaking to them, does not guarantee anything. We have seen it in the Zambian and Sri Lankan cases. There are so many examples. Ordinarily, negotiations will take between 4 and 6 months. At the pace at which we are going, it could take over 8 months," he said in an interview with Citi News.
“We have to attach some urgency to the request. Most of the staff of the fund will go back to their home countries this month. If there is a burden imposed on them, some of them will stay back and work. The IMF board meets quarterly, the next meeting will be in October, if we do not conclude negotiations before then, they can’t act on our request until the next board meeting which will be next year.”
Assibey Yeboah however alludes to the fact that the recent downgrade by rating agency, S&P’s shows the intensity of the economy.
S&P global rating on August 5, 2022, revised Ghana’s credit rating from B-/B to CCC+/C with a negative outlook.
Weeks ago, a team from the IMF was in Ghana to begin the process after the country requested for a bailout from the fund.
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