During a meeting on Saturday, Georgieva praised the leadership shown by Dr. Forson noting the significant progress Ghana has made under challenging circumstances.

She reaffirmed the IMF’s continued support for the country, stating, “The IMF remains a strong partner of Ghana.”

This high-level endorsement follows the announcement that Ghana has reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF on the fourth review of the Fund-supported program.

Once formally approved by the IMF Executive Board, the agreement will pave the way for the disbursement of approximately 370 million dollars to Ghana.

The achievement is particularly remarkable given that, before the new government assumed office, several structural benchmarks and quantitative targets under the program had been breached.

The breakthrough reflects the aggressive and focused efforts of the Mahama administration to reverse the economic situation and restore confidence in Ghana’s financial management.

Since taking office, the government has accelerated the implementation of structural reforms, delivering results ahead of schedule and bolstering optimism about Ghana’s economic prospects.

A major focus of the administration’s reform agenda has been the resolution of the large accumulation of payables in 2024, which had contributed to a significant primary deficit instead of the modest surplus originally targeted.

To address this, the government has introduced a range of bold and pragmatic measures aimed at strengthening spending controls, restoring budget credibility, and ensuring fiscal and debt sustainability.

In addition to these reforms, the government has already completed a number of structural benchmarks that were originally scheduled for completion at the end of December 2024 and March 2025, underlining its strong commitment to economic recovery.

Also in attendance were governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr. Johnson Asiama, Senior Economic Advisor, Seth Tekper and chairman of the National Development Planning Commission Dr. Nii Moi Thompson.

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The board’s decision was taken by consensus.

In line with the selection process it had established on March 13, 2024, the board held several discussions, including with Georgieva, the sole candidate nominated for the position, before making its decision.

Following Friday’s meeting, the coordinators of the executive board, Afonso S. Bevilaqua and Abdullah F. BinZarah, made the following statement:

“In taking this decision, the board commended Georgieva’s strong and agile leadership during her term, navigating a series of major global shocks.

Georgieva led the IMF’s unprecedented response to these shocks, including the approval of more than US$360 billion in new financing since the start of the pandemic for 97 countries, debt service relief to the Fund’s poorest, most vulnerable members, and a historic Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation equivalent to US$650 billion.

Under her leadership, the Fund introduced innovative new financing facilities, including the Resilience and Sustainability Facility and the Food Shock Window.

It replenished the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, with the capacity to mobilize concessional loans to its poorest members, and co-created the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable.

It also secured a 50 per cent quota increase to bolster the Fund’s permanent resources and agreed to add a third Sub-Saharan African chair to the IMF Board.

“Looking ahead, the Board welcomes Georgieva’s ongoing emphasis on issues of macroeconomic and financial stability, while also ensuring that the Fund continues to adapt and evolve to meet the needs of its entire membership.

“It recognises her focus on strengthening the Fund’s support to its members through effective policy advice, capacity development and financing.

The board looks forward to continuing to work closely with the Managing Director.”

Background:

Georgieva has served as managing director since October 1, 2019. The managing director is the chief of the IMF’s operating staff and Chair of the Executive Board.

Four deputy managing directors assist the managing director in overseeing the Fund’s operations, which serve its membership through about 3,100 staff.

Georgieva, a national of Bulgaria, has been the IMF’s managing director since 2019. Previously she served as Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank from January 2017.

From 1 February 1, 2019, to April 8, 2019, she was the interim president of the World Bank Group.

She previously served at the European Commission as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, and as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources.

Georgieva has a Ph.D. in Economic Science and an M.A. in Political Economy and Sociology from the University of National and World Economy in Bulgaria, where she also taught from 1977 to 1991.

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The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristaline Georgieva revealed that “Ghana is in a good place now because it has advanced negotiations with the bilateral creditors on restructuring of debts.”

“There is very tangible progress made towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding with bilateral creditors” the Managing Director of the IMF added.

Madam Georgieva was responding to a question posed by JOYBUSINESS during a roundtable engagement with some journalists in Accra during this two-day working visit to Ghana.

She noted that reaching a deal with these creditors should provide space for the Government to spend on critical areas to help stabilize the economy.

Negotiating with private creditors

The IMF Managing Director also justified her push for Ghana to be tactful in their debt negotiations with Eurobond holders and private creditors. She is warning that Ghana’s three bailout packages may be in jeopardy if the country fails to secure a fair restructuring deal with Eurobond holders.

The Finance Ministry has had a tough time forcing through a domestic restructuring programme, which was widely criticised by all stakeholders. Hopes were high that the country would have smooth sailing after it secured creditor assurance from the official creditor committee, which includes China.

However, in a meeting with President Akufo-Addo during her official visit to Ghana, the IMF head said Ghana may suffer severe setbacks similar to the case in Zambia, where they have difficulties unlocking the full bailout package. Ghana currently needs to restructure a total of approximately $13 billion, which it owes to Eurobond holders.

“Ghana is indeed benefiting from the experiences of countries that have gone for debt restructuring under the common framework. The sooner we do a great deal the better for the country. To do a deal that may actually reverse progress is not going to be good for the country. You cannot allow the Eurobond creditors to twist your arm. Why? Because you have done a very painful domestic debt restructuring, you have agreed in principle on debt restructuring with the official creditors of Ghana under certain conditions. The deal with the Eurobond has to be a fair deal vis-a-visa what was already done otherwise we risk seeing what happened in Zambia,” she stated.

She said her meeting with President Akufo-Addo came at an opportune time that will be quite decisive for years to come, “because we are climbing a mountain and we are doing quite well, we are not yet at the top, we need to keep climbing so there’s radiation of responsibility we need to complete with private creditors but complete defending the interest of the country.”

Ghana’s Performance under the IMF Programme

Ghana has been able to meet almost all the key targets set under the programme, looking at indicators such as inflation rate and growth.

The IMF head noted that Ghana’s Programme with the Fund came in at the right time, and current developments have shown that Ghana took the right decision seeking support from the IMF to help stabilize the economy.

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According to Mr Mahama, a wrong diagnosis of the economy by international diplomats will cause them to prescribe inappropriate remedies.

Mr Mahama’s comment is in direct response to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova’s statement that the current economic woes facing Ghana are due to external factors.

Speaking at the Africa Climate Change Adaptation Summit in the Netherlands, she attributed the woes to the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bulgarian economist maintained the current global challenges have created serious debt crisis which calls for broader consultation among global leaders and pledged IMF’s commitment to support Ghana’s economy.

Though Mr Mahama says it is a relief to hear Madam Kristina Grigorieva reaffirm the commitment of the IMF, he argued the mess is a result of bad policies.

“While the norm in international diplomacy of being guarded in what one says is appreciated, comments by high ranking officials must be grounded on facts that take into consideration local realities and opinions.

“The incontrovertible fact is that Ghana is in a mess due to the bad policies of this government, which have contributed massively to the dire state of affairs,” Mr Mahama said in a Facebook post.

He added ill-advised policies cannot also be ignored when discussing issues about the economic woes.

“The consequences of the government’s ill-advised policies such as the botched, insensitive and dubious cost in closing down locally owned banks, unbridled levels of corruption and lack of accountability including the mismanagement of COVID-19 funds, unconventional borrowing practices riddled with opaqueness and conflicts of interest, resulting in an unsustainable debt envelope, costly, experimental and untested programmes, etc., cannot be ignored in understanding the current dire state of the Ghanaian Economy,” the former President stressed.

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