President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that Ghana’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme was at risk of “derailment” at the time his administration assumed office, requiring urgent corrective measures to restore it to stability.
Speaking during the “Resetting Ghana” tour in the Savannah Region on Saturday, May 23, the President said key performance indicators under the programme had fallen out of alignment before his government took over.
He explained that the situation had placed the programme in a vulnerable position, threatening its continued implementation.
“We have also come to the end of the IMF programme. We inherited the IMF programme from the previous government. At the time we took over from the previous government, all the agreed performance indicators were off track. It meant that the programme was in danger of derailment,” he stated.
According to him, his administration had to act swiftly in the first quarter of its tenure to stabilise the programme and ensure compliance with IMF requirements.
“And so in the first quarter, after we took over, we had to take some stringent action to bring the programme back into alignment and bring it back on track,” he said.
President Mahama noted that subsequent IMF review missions had assessed Ghana’s performance positively, with the programme now successfully completed and awaiting final board approval for the release of the last tranche.
He added that while progress had been made, his government remains focused on deeper economic reforms, stressing that the recovery process is still ongoing.
“It’s now going to the board. And the board will release the last tranche of $380 million to support the Ghanaian economy. But we’re not going to have a kenkey party because we believe that it is still a work in progress.
“Unlike others who left the IMF and held waakye and kenkey parties, happy to be free from the IMF, we are not doing that because we know that our economy still needs a lot of work to be done.”
