The US government has pledged to intervene on Ghana’s behalf with the Paris Club as the country seeks debt forgiveness as part of the IMF’s balance of payment support.
This was announced by US Vice President Kamala Harris at a joint press conference with President Akufo-Addo.
According to Mrs. Harris, the United States will provide Ghana with all of the assistance it requires to overcome its current economic crisis.
“We welcome Ghana’s commitment to reform its economy for sustainable and inclusive growth. We support Ghana’s engagement with the IMF, and we will continue to push all bilateral creditors to provide meaningful debt reduction for countries that need it.
“It is critical to do so to build long-term economic growth and prosperity and to increase US investments. Our partnership is already strong, and I believe that today we have strengthened it.”
The United States has also announced that its Department of Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) will send a full-time resident advisor to help the Ministry of Finance develop and implement medium-to-long-term debt sustainability reforms and support a competitive, dynamic government debt market.
According to the United States, the project will complement and build on Ghana’s debt restructuring efforts.
This project is an extension of OTA’s ongoing efforts to improve public financial management and financial sector oversight in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ghana, which is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, secured a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December for a $3 billion loan, though the IMF’s board requires lenders to provide financing assurances before signing off on the programme.
