Ofori-Atta to stay beyond IMF/World Bank meeting days in US to conclude negotiations with the Fund

Ken Ofori-Atta and the the Managing Director of the IMF

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has revealed that the team from the Ministry of Finance that is curenlty in the United States will be staying beyond the period for the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meetings with African Finance Ministers, to enable them conclude discussions and negotiations with the IMF Mission that is working on the progarmme Ghana is seeking.

Mr Ofori-Atta indicated that is to give the team enough time to be able to come to some fair decisions on the outlook.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with TV3’s Sani Abdul-Rahman, on the sidelines of the meeting with African Finance Minsters with the G7 as part of the ongoing World Bank/IMF Meetings in Washington D.C. Mr Ofori-Atta said “We still are working through and as you know we are staying  beyond the Fund, the World Bank meetings through, maybe, the 20th, so we will continue with the Mission and the work. We pray that that may give us enough time to be able to come to some fair decisions on the outlook.

“I can tell you that the Fund staff is very motivated , which is good and we are 24/7, so the combination of their own enthusiasm, our clarity on the work that has been done to fulfill the President’s  promise. If you look at the turn out of discussion for this annual meeting clearly, the world is recognizing that something different has to be done.”

Meanwhile, the G7 has asked the World Bank to provide financial support to Ghana and other African countries to enable them deal with the impact of the economic crisis caused by force majeures.

The G7, an informal grouping of seven of the world’s advanced economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

Representatives from Ghana, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal were all at the meeting.

Mr Ofori-Atta described the meeting as historic because this is the first time African Finance Ministers have been invited to for such discussions.

Mr Ofori-Atta said “It was actually quite a historic meeting because for the first time the G7 has called African Finance Ministers to deliberate on the crisis that they see.

“The trues that these are exogenous factors that have really, even their own economies put it under serious stress and are therefore, looking for ways in which they can add to the capital needs to make sure that things do not deteriorate. So countries such as Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco  were there.”

He added “The empathy is clear, the need to [introduce] something new and therefore, their interest in encouraging the world Bank to find more resource, tapping into the private sector  so that they will stabilize where things are going.

“They have reduced growth rate to 2.7 per cent expecting a grim and difficult period, they don’t want to make sure that things deteriorate from liquidly to insolvency to chaos.”

The meeting brings together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, parliamentarians, private sector executives, representatives from civil society organizations and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.

Also featured are seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the world’s financial system.

By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana