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We are not aware of Ghana's decision to extend the ECF program-IMF

has denied of any of being aware of government's decision of extending the Extended Credit Facility(ECF) progam

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The IMF has denied claims that the government of Ghana is in touch with the IMF to extend the bailout programme.

According to an IMF spokesperson, they are not aware of the Ghana government’s decision to seek an extension to the on-going IMF-supported ECF program.

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However, the fund indicated its readiness to consider an extension if Ghana put in their request.

The NPP government in its first budget statement said it would seek an extension to the country’s three-year programme with the Bretton Woods institution.

Following that announcement some analysts called for outright discontinuation of the programme or full disclosure of the details of the planned extension.

A spokesperson of IMF says the Fund says it is set to be in Accra in April and expect to hold discussions under the Article IV consultation and do a review. “The mission aims to assess programme performance as of end-June 2016 and revise macroeconomic projections for 2017 and the medium-term."

READ ALSO: Ghana’s economy facing challenges - IMFThe Fund early this year, welcomed government’s decision to continue implementing the programme, indicating that it would be ready to hold discussions on the status of the programme during the next mission.The third programme review was completed at end-September 2016 and “we are planning to initiate the fourth review during the mission in April. The Spokesperson admitted that the implementation of the programme weakened last year, notably due to a significant fiscal slippage, with the budget deficit reaching 8¾ percent of GDP in 2016, significantly exceeding the deficit of 5¼ percent of GDP that we projected in September".

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READ ALSO:  IMF conditionalities were bitter - Mahama“Going forward, this means that stronger efforts will be required to achieve the targeted fiscal consolidation,” the Fund stated.

The programme was instrumental for reducing major macroeconomic imbalances and engendering confidence in the economy. Among others, the fiscal deficit declined from 10 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 7 per cent of GDP in 2015. This helped stabilize the exchange rate and reduce interest rates on government debt. Inflation has also started to come down.

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