In the aftermath of IMF's approval of the second review of Ghana's Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement, Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. John Kwakye, has criticized the US$360 million received by the government as insufficient.

He noted that the third tranche of US$360 million would not address Ghana's economic challenges, given the current state of the country's foreign exchange market.

In a post on X viewed by GhanaWeb Business, Dr. Kwakye argued that stabilizing the local economy requires the government to fully manage the country's natural resources and generate additional revenue to support the cedi.

Dr. Kwakye emphasized that this approach is the only viable solution to prevent the cedi from continuing to lose value against major currencies such as the US dollar and the British pound.

He said, “Relying on IMF disbursements to bolster the cedi isn’t sustainable. The US$360 mn inflow is peanuts compared with our FX needs. Taking ownership of our natural resource wealth to support the cedi is the only sustainable option."

he release of the third tranche of the IMF bailout package, amounting to US$360 million, increases the total disbursement to US$1.56 billion.

According to a statement from the IMF, Ghana's performance under the programme has been generally strong, meeting all the quantitative performance criteria for the second review and nearly all the indicative targets.

The IMF also noted that the country has made progress on its debt restructuring efforts and that significant structural reforms are progressing.

In an effort to address high inflation and stabilize the economy, the government announced on July 1, 2022, its intention to seek a $3 billion financial bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Following this announcement, an IMF team visited Ghana from July 6 to July 13, 2022, to discuss a potential economic support programme with local authorities.

A staff-level agreement between the Government of Ghana and the IMF was finalized in December 2022.

On May 17, 2023, the IMF's executive board approved Ghana’s $3 billion loan facility.

The first tranche of $600 million was disbursed to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on May 19, 2023.

The IMF programme is designed, according to the government, to restore macroeconomic stability and ensure debt sustainability, among other goals.