Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Dr Ernest Addison has said that Ghana is making progress with its engagement with bilateral creditors as part of the process to close a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).<\/strong><\/p>\nDr Addison explained that stakeholders in Ghana were expecting the IMF Board to meet on Ghana\u2019s proposal by end of March but that meeting was hinged on obtaining financing assurance from bilateral creditors.<\/p>\n
He said that there has been progress made regarding assurance from the creditors.<\/p>\n
Answering questions at the 111th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conference in Accra on Monday, March 27, Dr Addison said \u201cWe were all expecting that the IMF board would have met by the end of March but that is contingent on obtaining financing assurances from the Bilateral creditors.<\/p>\n
\u201cFortunately, there is progress on that front, the official creditor\u2019s committee met last week, and they are looking at a date in April by which time they expect to give the necessary financial assurances.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce that is out of the way, once we have signed this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and once parliament has passed these new revenue measures we would have completed what they call the prior actions, this is what is needed for the fund to set a date for the Executive Board meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed optimism that the Board would meet by the end of April.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo hopefully, if things go as planned by the end of April we should see that executive board meeting taking place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are confident about the outlook, our foreign exchange situation is not dire, we believe that the outlook is not that critical, we have been fairly successful with the gold for reserves programme, we have been able to increase our reserves through the purchases of gold. So it is not as\u00a0 serious as initially projected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, led a high-level delegation from the ministry to China to engage in bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart and other Chinese officials.<\/p>\n
The Finance Ministry said that Mr Ofori-Atta had\u00a0very positive and encouraging meetings in China.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Ministry said they were looking forward to securing external assurances very soon.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cSo far had very positive and encouraging meetings in China! Looking forward to securing external assurances very soon, even as we pass our outstanding domestic revenue bills back home. Great progress on all fronts\u2026<\/span>#ResolvingTogether<\/a><\/span>\u00a0#GhanaFirst,\u201d the Office of the Finance Minister tweeted on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\nMr Ofori-Atta also mentioned to the Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme\u00a0that has been introduced by the government as an indication that Ghana was ready to take the necessary action to readjust its fiscal path.<\/p>\n
In response, Mr Kun said \u201cwe know that these are short-term challenges which we as responsible creditors remain committed to resolving\u201d and that \u201cthe long-standing and prosperous relationship between Ghana and China imposes on us, a responsibility to help\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Chinese Finance Minister further said it was the hope of his country that Multilateral and Commercial creditors would also fully participate in the interest of burden sharing.<\/p>\n
\u201cChinese authorities have confidence in Ghana\u2019s economic management, and its long-term economic viability,\u201d Mr Kun said.<\/p>\n
He added \u201cChina believes in promoting debt sustainability and sustainable development,\u201d<\/p>\n
He said these when Mr Ofori-Atta, led a high-level delegation from the ministry to China to engage in bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart and other Chinese officials.<\/p>\n
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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