International Monetary Fund Resident Representative, Dr. Leandro Medina, says the IMF is expecting Ghana to undertake a large and front loading fiscal consolidation exercise within the three years the country will be subscribed to the IMF.
According to him, this will be done through revenue mobilization and making government expenditure more efficient.
Ghana has recently received Executive Board approval from the IMF for its $3billion bailout following the country’s ejection from the international capital market after reaching unsustainable debt levels.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition, Mr. Medina stated that austerity measures to be enforced as part of the fiscal consolidation exercise is expected to have a significant impact on Ghanaians thus the need for more social protection programmes to shield the most vulnerable in society.
“But of course this will be done while protecting the vulnerable, protecting the poor because ensuring social protections is one of the key aspects of the programme. And if I may give you two examples, two key examples of what is being done by your authorities in their economic programme is first in the 2023 budget, the benefit under the LEAP are being doubled and also the school feeding programme is being adjusted to counteract the effect of the inflation. But these are just a few examples of what the programme is doing in this aspect,” he said.
Ghana received the first tranche of $600 million of the IMF bailout on May 19 according to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison.
The second tranche of disbursement would be expected by December 2023.
This is however subject to meeting some conditions under the programme.
The remaining amount will be disbursed in tranches of $360 million every six months, subject to meeting the IMF programme conditions.