“Ghana’s economy continues to face challenges. While the estimated economic growth of 3.6% in 2016 exceeded our target of 3.3%, the decline in inflation has been slower than expected. The current account deficit narrowed to 6 ½ percent of GDP, contributing to a small buildup of foreign exchange reserves," the IMF said in a press stament.

The statement follows a review of Ghana's IMF programme by an IMF Staff led by Joël Toujas-Bernaté.

They took stock of the 2016 economic developments and the outlook for 2017, engaged in a dialogue about the New Patriotic Party's economic plans, and discuss prospects for program engagement with the IMF.

According to IMF, Ghana's fiscal deficit deteriorated to an estimated 9 percent instead of the projected target of 5¼ percent of GDP.

It attributed the deterioration to poor oil and non-oil revenue performance and large expenditure overruns.

“In 2016, the overall fiscal deficit (on a cash basis) deteriorated to an estimated 9 percent of GDP, instead of declining to 5¼ percent of GDP as envisaged under the IMF-supported program. The large deviation was mainly due to poor oil and non-oil revenue performance and large expenditure overruns. As a result, the government debt-to GDP ratio increased further to close to 74 percent of GDP at end-2016."