IMF Disburses Further $116 Million to Ghana in Bailout Plan

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund approved the release of a $116 million installment to Ghana after a review of economic and monetary reforms that are part of an almost $1 billion bailout plan for the West African nation.

The total disbursements under the program amount to $465 million so far, the Washington-based lender said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.

Ghana turned to the IMF in April 2015 after lower prices for its gold, cocoa and oil exports caused debt to balloon and its currency to decline against the dollar. Regular power cuts have also weighed on the economy. President John Dramani Mahama, who will run for a second term in office in December elections, has pledged that Ghana won’t seek further IMF bailouts.

The disbursement comes as Ghana’s second-quarter economic growth slowed to its lowest in two years following a slump in the country’s crude production. The economy will expand between 4.1 percent and 4.3 percent this year, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said in July.

West Africa’s second-largest economy raised $750 million at a yield of 9.25 percent earlier this month in an auction that was more than four times oversubscribed. About $400 million of the bond proceeds will be used to refinance the nation’s first 10-year bond which matures in 2017 while the rest will be used for capital projects, according to Terkper.

Source: Bloomberg Business News