Frequently Asked Questions on Ghana

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The IMF-supported Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement has three key objectives: restoring macroeconomic stability, ensuring debt sustainability, and laying the foundations for higher and more inclusive growth.
Ghanaian authorities’ policy priorities under the program:
- Large and frontloaded measures to bring public finances back on a sustainable path through mobilizing more domestic revenue and improving efficiency of public spending, while protecting the vulnerable.
- Ambitious structural reforms to support fiscal adjustment and enhance resilience to shocks, focusing on tax policy, revenue administration, and public financial management; reforms also address weaknesses in the energy and cocoa sectors.
- Steps to bring inflation under control, including the Bank of Ghana maintaining a tight monetary policy stance and eliminating monetary financing of the budget; a flexible exchange rate policy to help rebuild international reserves.
- Measures to preserve financial stability.
- Reforms to encourage private investment, growth, and job creation.

Ghana’s performance under the program has been generally satisfactory in meeting quantitative objectives (for example on budgetary performance) and implementing structural reforms.
Recent results and signs of stabilization:
- Economic growth is recovering faster than expected.
- Inflation is declining rapidly from its 2022 highs.
- Fiscal and external positions are showing a marked turnaround.
- The Bank of Ghana's international reserves are increasing.
The government has made significant progress on comprehensive debt restructuring, including completion of the Eurobond exchange.

Protecting the vulnerable is a core objective; spending on key social programs is protected and monitored through an indicative target.
Specific measures:
- In 2023, benefits under the Living Empowerment Against Poverty targeted cash transfer program were doubled.
- These benefits are being doubled again in 2024, which will significantly reduce poverty and inequality.
- Budgetary allocation of the Ghana School Feeding Program has been increased to compensate for the cost of inflation and ensure poor children continue to benefit from free meals at school.
- Financial resources for the National Health Insurance Scheme are being increased and disbursed in a timely manner to cover medical claims, essential medicines, and vaccines for the most vulnerable.

Ghanaian authorities are committed to strengthening governance, improving transparency, and reducing risks of corruption under the Fund-supported program.
Ongoing and planned actions:
- The authorities have requested IMF technical assistance to conduct an in-depth Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment; this exercise is ongoing and will feed into updating the National Anticorruption Action Plan.
- The authorities enacted a new Conduct of Public Officers Act to strengthen the asset declaration system for public officials.
- The Ghana Revenue Authority, with IMF technical assistance, is developing a plan to improve professional standards of tax administration in Ghana.

The government has continued to make remarkable progress in its debt restructuring, with the recent completion of the Eurobond exchange cited as a significant milestone.
Authorities are pursuing good-faith efforts to reach agreement with other external commercial creditors on a debt treatment consistent with program parameters and the comparability of treatment principles.

Steadfast policy and reform implementation is vital to fully and durably restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability in Ghana.
The IMF emphasizes the need for the government to continue implementing the program as envisaged to ensure sustainable growth and poverty reduction.
IMF-supported programs are developed with a country's authorities and reviewed periodically; governments may discuss changes with the IMF while ensuring that the economic objectives of the reform programs are still achievable.
The authorities have demonstrated strong commitment to program objectives, and Finance Minister Adam’s signaling of continued commitment to the policies under the program is welcomed.