IMF - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Ghana finance minister expects MoU with bilateral lenders in May

GHANA'S Finance Minister expects a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from the country's bilateral creditors in May on a restructuring deal, he said. The MoU, once signed, would cement a deal to restructure $5.4 billion of loans with its official creditors, including China and France, agreed in January. The restructuring is a milestone in Ghana's quest for debt relief as it charts its way out of the worst economic crisis in a generation and should unlock further tranches of its $3 billion programme with the IMF. Speaking on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, Mohammed Amin…

Jan

2024

By PATRICK WERR

Egypt economic growth forecasts lowered as Gaza crisis flares – Reuters poll

BUSINESS

Egyptian economic growth will be slower than previously expected as its pound weakens, inflation cuts into purchasing power and fallout from the Gaza crisis eats into the country's main sources of foreign currency, a Reuters poll showed. Revenue from the Suez Canal fell 40% in early January after sea attacks by Yemen's Houthis diverted away shipping. The crisis in neighbouring Gaza that started in October has also weakened the tourism outlook. "Developments over the past month have seen the country being hit hard from various angles and directly to its main revenue generators," Pieter du Preez of Oxford Economics wrote in a…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

IMF ‘optimistic’ Ghana will reach official creditor debt deal soon

BUSINESS

THE International Monetary Fund said that it was "optimistic" that Ghana and its official bilateral creditors would reach a debt restructuring deal soon, paving the way for another $600 million IMF loan payment to the country. Discussions between Ghanaian authorities and the Official Creditor Committee, co-chaired by China and France, are showing "promising progress", the IMF's Resident Representative for Ghana, Leandro Medina, said. "We are optimistic that an agreement will be reached soon, allowing to swiftly present the first ECF (Extended Credit Facility) programme review to our Executive Board," he said via email. The West African nation defaulted on most…

Nov

2023

By DUNCAN MIRIRI and GEORGE OBULUTSA

Kenya gets additional $938 mln from IMF, soothing nerves

BUSINESS

THE International Monetary Fund has reached a staff-level agreement with Kenya, unlocking immediate access to a $682.3 million tranche and boosting the current lending programme by $938 million, the fund said. The East African nation is grappling with acute liquidity challenges caused by uncertainty over its ability to access funding from financial markets before a $2 billion Eurobond matures next June. Its balance of payments and financial positions have also been strained by the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic and frequent climate change-induced droughts, the fund said after a two-and-a-half-week review mission to Nairobi. "The tightening global financing conditions for…

Oct

2023

By RACHEL SAVAGE

Debt squeeze leaves sub-Saharan Africa’s governments in fiscal bind

BUSINESS

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged sub-Saharan African policymakers last week to cut costly fuel subsidies and raise more in taxes, measures that may be hard to implement as governments grapple with tough spending choices amid high debt. The region has been hit by repeated economic shocks since 2020, from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and rising U.S. interest rates, putting cash-strapped, debt-laden governments in a political and fiscal bind. However, the IMF's prescriptions, set out at its annual meetings last week, are often painful to administer. Countries from Ghana, which defaulted on its debts last year, to Kenya, which…

Oct

2023

By AHMED ELJECHTIMI

Marrakech prepares for IMF and World Bank meeting a month after deadly quake

BUSINESS

MOROCCANS living just an hour from where the global financial elite will gather for IMF and World Bank meetings next week are homeless and destitute after last month's deadly earthquake, camping amid the rubble of their devastated villages. Near the conference venue in the city of Marrakech, where quake damage was less severe, the old city wall has already been repaired, a fallen minaret has been covered up, rubble has been removed, lawns trimmed and flowers planted. But in the High Atlas mountains where most of the quake's 3,000 victims were killed, villagers live in tents with little access to showers or working toilets, surviving…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

World Bank and IMF are Western tools with doomed future

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, stated the obvious at a California conference when she lamented the gradual decline of the US dollar in global trade. Addressing the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference in the US this week, she said: “There has been a gradual shift away from the Dollar, it was 70% of (world) reserves, now it is slightly under 60% .” ABBEY MAKOE Well, the writing has been on the wall for a long while. The US dollar is certainly losing its once unassailable dominance as a kind of an omnipotent world’s main…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Chad creditors to meet this week; IMF calls on Glencore to ‘step forward’

BUSINESS

ANDREA SHALAL CHAD'S official creditor committee will meet this week amid growing pressure from the International Monetary Fund and others for progress on the country's request for debt restructuring, two sources briefed on the matter said. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters the key issue was coming to an agreement with Chad's main private creditor Glencore on the country's debt restructuring needs, given a jump this year in the price of oil, a key revenue generator for it. Chad in January 2021 become the first country to request a restructuring of its $3 billion external debt under the Common…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Explainer: Why Ghana has returned to the IMF

BUSINESS

COOPER INVEEN and RACHEL SAVAGE Hundreds took to the streets of Ghana's capital Accra last week to protest over its deteriorating economy. Days later, the government of one of West Africa's most prosperous nations announced it would begin formal talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for support. It was a decision many analysts long thought inevitable, despite repeated pledges from finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta to never again seek IMF assistance. Why did the country reverse course, and what could the IMF demand in return? WHY NOW? Inflation hit an 18-year high of 27.6% in May, capping off a year…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

IMF says Zimbabwe economy to grow 6%, deep reforms needed

BUSINESS

THE International Monetary Fund forecast that Zimbabwe's economy would grow 6% this year, almost double its initial projection, but said debt restructuring and other reforms were needed to create the conditions for a lasting recovery. The Fund said higher agriculture output and improved power generation and manufacturing activity meant its previous estimate of 3.1% had been superseded. "An economic recovery is underway in 2021," it said in a statement late on Wednesday after a two-week virtual meeting with local authorities. The IMF's new projection is also higher than the 3.4% growth forecast by the World Bank last week, while President…