The International Monetary Fund approved the second review of Ghana’s $3 billion loan program on Friday, enabling the immediate disbursement of approximately $360 million.
According to the monetary body, this decision follows Ghana’s successful finalization of a deal with its official creditor committee, a necessary step to unlock the second tranche of the loan.
This new tranche will bring total IMF disbursements under the three-year bailout program, aimed at helping Ghana navigate its worst economic crisis in a generation, to $1.56 billion.
The IMF noted that Ghana’s performance under the program has been generally strong. A source at Ghana’s central bank indicated that the country expects to receive the latest funds within about two days.
Ghana sought IMF financial support in 2022 as the cedi currency depreciated and inflation surged amidst escalating debt-service costs.
These challenges followed years of overspending, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and high global interest rates.
Since then, the economy has stabilized. Economic growth in 2023 was unexpectedly high at 2.9%, and the first quarter of 2024 saw growth of 4.7%.
Inflation has slowed from a peak of over 54% in December 2022 to 23.1% last month, although the cedi continues to depreciate.
