Let’s forget about the past and look ahead to a new economic start – Ofori-Atta

He said the current economic challenges should be viewed as something that happened in the past.

According to him, the government is ready for new things and the country is certainly on the path toward not just recovery but, also, revitalizing the economy.

“Indeed, I think we have to move ahead, and as the good book says, we should forget the former things, we should not dwell on the past and see that new things are being done, and we are ready for that”.

Speaking at a recent press briefing organised by the International Monetary Fund, Mr Ofori-Atta, said the government will support the Fund to achieve the intended objectives of the Fund-support programme, “and the collective effort of the Ghanaian people will work through our current challenges and emerge stronger than before”.

He furthered that “greater things are ahead. We know Ghana can achieve it. We’ve been through this before, and we are ready to ensure that we set a pace that others can also follow”.

The Finance Minister also acknowledged the pivotal role of the country’s bilateral partners, especially members of the G20, Common Framework, the Paris Club, the G7 and the support by India, Saudi, China, and Turkey, which he described as have been really tremendous in bringing Ghana his far.

“The financial assurances that were delivered last Friday, May 12th [2023], were instrumental in securing yesterday’s Board approval; and we, truly, do thank all of them for that.

“Clearly, it’s also a signal that a common framework can be made to work and we look forward to just following through”, he added.

Ghana received its first tranche of the $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week.

The office of the finance ministry had earlier tweeted to receiving the first inflow of relief funds from the IMF

@thebankofghana informs me that the first tranche of $600 million of Ghana’s low-interest $ 3 billion ECF facility has been received. These funds will be used for BOP & budget support and will also help stabilize the FX rate & trigger a cascading effect on inflation #GhanaRising

Ghana is also expected to receive another tranche of funds by June 2023.

All the funds will be paid directly into the Bank of Ghana’s account to support Ghana’s balance of payments needs.

The IMF Mission will June 2023 visit Ghana to review Ghana’s program considerations before the final disbursement in December.