ACCRA (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it had met with a delegation from Ghana in Washington, D.C., to discuss a potential loan programme for the West African country.
Ghana approached the IMF for financial support in July as foreign investors dumped its debt and as street protests broke out over rocketing prices.
“The Ghanaian delegation and IMF staff had very fruitful discussions on the authorities’ post-COVID program for economic growth and associated policies and reforms that could be supported by a new IMF arrangement,” it said in a statement.
Both parties met in early October but a team from the fund said more work was needed on a debt-sustainability analysis.
The IMF said on Thursday they made good progress in identifying specific policies that would restore macroeconomic stability and lay the foundation for stronger and more inclusive growth.
“Discussions will continue in the weeks ahead, with a follow-up mission to take place expeditiously,” the fund said.
Ghanaian policymakers have taken steps to address the economy’s rapid deterioration, including cutting spending and implementing aggressive interest rate hikes.
However, producer inflation in Ghana came in at 45.6% year on year in September from a revised 39.7% in August, the statistics service said on Wednesday, after a rebasing exercise assisted by the IMF.
The Ghanaian cedi has plummeted more than 40% this year, straining importers of both raw and processed materials. Consumer inflation hit a new 21-year high of 37.2% in September on the back of soaring import costs.
(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by James Macharia Chege and Josie Kao)
