Dr. John Kwaye of the Institute of Economic Affairs has criticized Ghana's reliance on IMF disbursements to stabilize the Cedi, deeming it unsustainable.

He advocates for leveraging Ghana's natural resources for foreign exchange instead, emphasizing the need for the country to assert greater control over its resource wealth.

This stance comes amid recent efforts, including an International Monetary Fund (IMF) disbursement and eased corporate demand, which have temporarily stabilized the Cedi against the US dollar.The Cedi is reported to have held steady against the US dollar (US$), buoyed by improved market sentiments as FX demand eased.This stability follows the IMF board’s approval and subsequent release of funds after the second review of its 36-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF).The Finance Minister Dr Mohammed Amin Adam had announced on Monday that the third tranche was expected to hit the Bank of Ghana account by the close of today Monday, July 1.“The Cedi has been under pressure in recent times, however, the exchange rate has largely stabilised since 2023. Year-to date depreciation of the cedi against the US$ is 18.4% compared to 22.0% recorded in the same period in 2023.

“The key measures we are implementing to deal with the recent depreciation include: tight monetary policy by the BoG; deepening the ongoing fiscal consolidation programme; intensifying the gold-for-oil programme and the BoG’s gold-for-reserves programme; and anticipated Forex inflows from disbursements from our multilateral and bilateral institutions as well as private sector financial institutions.

“These include the IMF 3rd Tranche of US$360 million which will be disbursed to Ghana by close of business today Monday 1st July 2024, following the IMF Executive Board approval of the 2nd Review last Friday; the IMF 4th Tranche of US$360 million expected in Q4 of 2024 after IMF Executive Board approves the 3rd Review; the World Bank DP02 tranche of US$300 million expected in Q3 of 2024; and disbursements from bilateral institutions/financial institutions including the World Bank GARID Project (US$150 million), EBID facility of US$200 million for SME support, and anticipated proceeds from 2024/2025 Cocobod syndication of up to US$1.5 billion in Q4 of 2024.”