Ghana, touted as the gateway to Africa in 2002 faced severe economic and financial hardship. The exchange rate of the cedi to the dollar was approximately Ghc6 – $1 and the country had a debt burden which was assessed as unsustainable.
With already existing situations which has affected the economy and external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, Ghana suffered financing pressures, a depreciating cedi, declining international reserves, a failing economic, and high inflation.
In alleviating this pressure, Ghana put in place reform programs to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability. Ghana requested IMF financial support.
On May 17, 2023, the IMF Executive Board approved a US$3 billion (SDR 2.242 billion) three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement to support Ghana’s post-COVID economic recovery program.
According to the Auditor General’s report, the government of Ghana raised Ghc21.84 billion through the Contigency Fund, the World bank group, the international Monetary Fund (IMF), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Union (EU), and the sale of BOG-COVID-19 Bonds for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 fiscal years.
Out of the amount raised, GHc12.04billion was spent to fight the pandemic.
Following the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, the IMF gave Ghana an equivalent of US$1 billion, being its share of the new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) allocation to boost the post-COVID economic recovery of member countries.
However, Ghana is still in a period of economic instability, with inflation high and the cedi having further depreciated, trading at Ghc15.7 to $1.
The dire economic situation is still attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian-Ukraine war, when in reality, internal shocks are to blame for the country’s current economic instability.
The money that you are seeing is $207 million dollars, which means Ghana received more than 14 times this amount from the IMF alone in the last four years. But the country has seen no progress, only more hardships and taxes. We don’t have leaders; we have evildoers protected by… pic.twitter.com/6NonZCClZ9
— Tech In Twi (@tech_twi) September 23, 2024
