IMF, Ghana’s Authorities to Discuss Loans on Monday

In August inflation in Ghana reached its highest level in decades, causing the cost of living to soar. The growing dissatisfaction of Ghanians with the country's government and economic policies has made the county's authorities seek outside help.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is scheduled to visit Ghana on September 26 – October 7 in order “to continue discussions with the Ghanaian authorities on policies and reforms that could be supported by an IMF lending arrangement,” according to an IMF press release.

The interaction between the IMF and Ghana began in July, when the African country’s government turned to the organization for help in tackling its faltering economy.

“On the basis of a request from the Ghanaian authorities, an IMF staff team will in the coming days kick-start discussions on a possible program to support Ghana’s homegrown economic policies,” Carlo Sdralevich, IMF mission chief for Ghana stated before visiting the country in July.

According to another statement made by Carlo Sdralevich, Ghanaian-IMF cooperation will cover issues such as safeguarding “debt sustainability”, restoring “macroeconomic stability” and tackling the impact of the sanctions imposed as a result of the Russian military operation in Ukraine as well as dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic’s repercussions.

IMF assistance to Ghana will most likely consist of a $3 billion loan package over a three-year period, connected with both Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programs, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, cited by Reuters.

Some critics of IMF activities claim the organization doesn't always end up solving states' economic problems because it makes lending conditional, requiring large-scale privatization, national currency devaluation, economic liberalization and an end to state support of certain sectors of the economy.

For instance, economic policies prescribed by the World Bank and the IMF for Africa in the 1970s, 1980s, and the latter part of the 1990s, designed to align Africa's economic development strategies with market-based liberal principles, worsened the food insecurity in Africa, according to a chapter of "Food Security in Africa", a book written by Mahamat Kabirou Dodo, a fellow at the International Academy of Social Science, and affiliate to the Center of Excellence at the Institute of European Studies University of California Berkeley and Centre de Documentaciò Europea, Universitat de Valencia, Spain.

This happened because African governments were advised to cut aid, subsidies, and assistance to their farmers in the name of market-based principles, which led to the current situation when local food production has been largely substituted by Western trans-national corporations, which Africans are forced to buy food from, the book reads.

In recent months, a wave of protests swept through Ghana, prompted by price hikes and increasing taxes amid the current economic downturn.

On August 3, several thousand protesters thronged the streets of Ghana’s capital Accra under the slogan “Fix the economy”. Protesters chanted patriotic songs and held banners reading “The youth are jobless”, “We demand a fair share of our oil money”, “Fuel prices go up every week, yet jobs and salaries keep falling.”

On June 28-29, demonstrations kicked off in Accra again, where huge crowds of people demanding a reduction in commodity and fuel prices and improving their quality of life, marched on the streets of the capital. Demonstrations continued for two days despite arrests and crackdowns due to violence against police officers and “damaging public property.”