According to Fitch Solutions, continuing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund won't be impacted by the potential dismissal of Ken Ofori-Atta as finance minister.

This is because Mark Assibey-Yeboah, the next candidate predicted to succeed Ofori-Atta, "would take a more flexible attitude towards negotiations with the Fund," claims Fitch.

As a result, according to Fitch's most recent article, "Division within Ghana's Ruling Party to Weigh on Political Stability," given the existing situation, a change in the finance minister will happen quickly and won't cause any appreciable delays in negotiations with the IMF.

It said “While Ofori-Atta remained opposed to an IMF bailout – we believe that he [Mark Assibey-Yeboah] would take a more accommodative approach towards negotiations with the Fund. As such, we believe that a change of finance minister would most likely not impact the timeline of IMF negations and we would retain our view that a staff-level agreement will be reached in Q123 [quarter 1, 2023].”

The international research firm also projected an increase in protests and strikes due to the deteriorating living standards in the country.

“Worsening living standards amid rising consumer prices – inflation reached 40.4% year-on-year in October 2022, the highest reading since 2001 – and tighter monetary conditions have led to a 72.7% quarter-on-quarter increase in protests and riots across in quarter 3 2022. The country has also seen large industrial action in recent months, including a three-day retail strike in Accra in October [2022],” it added.