Ghana, IMF agree second loan payment of $600 mn

Ghana has reached agreement with the International Monetary Fund on the terms for a second payment of $600 million out of its $3-billion credit deal, the IMF said in a statement on Friday. Payment of the second portion of Ghana's loan will come after the IMF board's final approval and bring the total disbursed since May to $1.2 billion, the IMF said.

Ghana signed a deal with the IMF in December as the country sought to shore up its public finances and better manage debt to emerge from its worst economic crisis in decades.

"The authorities have adjusted macroeconomic policies, successfully completed their domestic debt restructuring operation, and launched wide-ranging reforms," IMF mission chief Stephane Roudet said in a statement at the end of his team's review in Accra.

"These actions are already generating positive results."

Ghana will have access to about $600 million in financing once the mission's review is approved by the board, the statement said.

The country's economic situation will be a major election campaign theme as it heads to the ballot box next year with President Nana Akufo-Addo stepping down after two terms.

Several hundred opposition protesters rallied in Ghana's capital Accra earlier this week to denounce the economic crisis, blaming it on the central bank governor's policies.

A major cocoa and gold producer, Ghana also has oil and gas reserves.

But its debt load has expanded and like other sub-Saharan African nations it struggled with the economic fallout from the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.