IMF, Ghana reach staff level agreement for $370m

• Posted on April 16, 2025April 16, 2025
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the government have reached a staff-level agreement on a new package of economic policies and structural reforms under Ghana’s 36-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme.

The agreement paves the way for the conclusion of the fourth review of the programme, and upon approval by the IMF Executive Board, Ghana will receive a disbursement of approximately US$370 million in financial support.

According to a statement issued by the IMF, while Ghana recorded higher-than-expected economic growth and a significant improvement in its external position in 2023, overall programme performance weakened considerably towards the end of 2024.

The deterioration was largely attributed to fiscal slippages in the lead-up to the general election, resulting in a substantial accumulation of government arrears.

Additionally, the statement said inflation rose above target levels and the implementation of several key reforms was delayed.

Despite the setbacks, the Fund commended the new government for swiftly implementing corrective measures early this year to address “policy and reform slippages.”

NDC Manipulated Figures – Amin Adam Alleges

Reacting to the development, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, claimed that the latest staff-level agreement between the IMF and Ghana exposes deliberate manipulation of economic data by the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

“The staff-level agreement has confirmed our suspicions that the government manipulated fiscal data to achieve political objectives and to support the earlier claims by the President that the economy he inherited was run-down,” he stated.

Dr. Adam, who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Karaga, pointed to discrepancies in the reporting of Ghana’s primary deficit.

“While the Minister for Finance in the 2025 Budget announced the primary fiscal deficit on a commitment basis— the fiscal anchor of the IMF programme— to be 3.9% of GDP, the IMF found it to be 3.25%, a difference of about 0.7 percentage points of GDP,” he explained.

“This is notwithstanding the fact that the IMF itself departed from its original definition of the primary fiscal balance as outlined in the Technical Memorandum of Understanding at the start of the programme,” he added.

The former Finance Minister also criticised what he described as the “propaganda agenda” of the current administration, stating that the staff-level agreement vindicates the previous NPP government.

According to him, the agreement disproves claims by President Mahama and the Finance Minister that the NPP had “criminally mismanaged” the economy or breached IMF programme conditions.

“The staff-level agreement shows that most targets were met, and the few missed were not severe enough to collapse the programme— contrary to what the government has tried to portray,” he stressed.

Dr. Adam urged the IMF Executive Board to safeguard the integrity of Ghana’s fiscal reporting and reaffirmed the opposition’s commitment to holding the government accountable.

By Ernest Kofi Adu