Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is “confident” that official creditors will agree on a memorandum of understanding in a meeting scheduled for Jan. 8, he told Bloomberg by phone Friday.
An agreement will enable the IMF executive board to meet to review Ghana’s performance under a program that started in May and to approve a disbursement of $600 million, the second tranche of its $3 billion bailout. The board will likely meet on Jan. 18 after delays, Ofori-Atta said.
A board approval will also “trigger” the process for two World Bank disbursements totaling $550 million, said Ofori-Atta. The Bank has committed $300 million in budgetary support and another $250 million toward Ghana’s Financial Stability Fund, so “we are in good shape,” he said.
The budgetary support disbursement is expected by the end of this month and the contribution to the fund that provides liquidity to financial institutions impacted by the domestic debt restructuring will likely come in by the end of February, he said.
Source: Bloomberg