The first tranche of US$600 million from the International Monetary Fund’s $3billion credit facility is expected to hit the accounts of Bank of Ghana (BoG) on Friday, May 19, 2023.
BoG Governor, Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison disclosed this at a joint press conference of the IMF and the Finance Ministry on Thursday.
He said, “Just for your information, we have had swift advice, today to receive the money. Value date tomorrow $604 million.”
The IMF finally approved Ghana’s Programme request seeking for the $3 billion Balance of Payment support to stabilize the economy.
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The IMF released a 126 press statement giving more details about the deal.
According to the Fund, public procurement will be fully integrated with the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information (GIFMIS) to ensure that only projects that benefit from approved budgets and quarterly allotments can obtain procurement approvals to award contracts.
Enforcement of sanctions under the Public Financial Management Act, it said, will be strengthened, including penalties for covered entities committing spending above their allotments and allocations.
Again, the human resources information system (HRMIS), the bank clearing system (GHIPSS), and GRA’s tax portals will be integrated with GIFMIS.
It stated that the automatic bank reconciliation (ABR) functionality for GIFMIS-linked accounts will be rolled out, and the chart of accounts will be standardised if needed.
The second tranche of disbursement would be expected by December 2023.
This is however subject to meeting some conditions under the programme.
The remaining amount will be disbursed in tranches of $360 million every six months, subject to meeting the IMF programme conditions.