Help us get the $3bn IMF bailout – Akufo-Addo to diplomats

President Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo-Addo has called on the Diplomatic Corps to help Ghana’s bid for a $3 billion bailout at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Addressing members of the Diplomatic Corps at the Peduase Lodge on Tuesday, the President said with the cooperation received from the Paris Club, he is confident that the IMF deal will finally be concluded by the end of March.

“Just as we managed to achieve a staff-level agreement with the Fund in record time in December last year whose terms were systematically fulfilling including the difficult but ultimately highly successful process of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, I am confident that with the cooperation we have received from the members of the Paris Club and the People’s Republic of China, which sent a delegation from China’s EXIM Bank to Accra over the weekend to meet with officials of the Ministry of Finance, we shall be able to go to the Board of the Fund to conclude finally the agreement by the end of March,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo added “this will set the stage for the strong recovery of Ghana’s economy. Needless to say, we will hope that all Ghana’s friends will weigh in with words of support at the Fund.”

Ghana has already reached a staff-level agreement (SLA) with the IMF but has yet to get board approval.

Meanwhile, the German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull, has warned that the $3 billion bailout being sought from the International Monetary Fund is in danger of not being approved if China fails to agree to a debt relief package.

“We are ready to take our part when others are ready to do that, so all major creditors must be ready to help Ghana. The Big elephant in the room is China. China is the largest creditor to Ghana and so far [China] is not supportive of setting up of a creditors’ committee, where the creditors will sit down and agree on an aid package for Ghana.”