## Frequently Asked Questions on Ghana

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**Canonical URL:** [Frequently Asked Questions on Ghana](https://www.imf.org/en/countries/gha/ghana-qandas)

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### Program objectives and policy priorities
- 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.

### Performance, outcomes, and macroeconomic signs
- 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.

### Social protection and poverty-reduction measures
- 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.

### Governance, transparency, and anticorruption efforts
- 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.

### Debt restructuring and creditor engagement
- 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.

### Policy implications and next steps
- 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.

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## References

- [Ghana: Article IV Staff Reports](https://www.imf.org/en/countries/gha?selectedfilters=Article+IV+Staff+Reports)
- [IMF Lending](https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/IMF-Lending)
- [IMF Executive Board Completes the Third Review under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement with Ghana, December 2, 2024](https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2024/12/02/pr-24447-ghana-imf-executive-board-completes-3rd-review-under-the-ecf-arrangement)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/countries/gha/ghana-qandas_