IMF boss and Ghana PresidentAdnan Adams Mohammed
The International Monetary Fund has projected a 4.4 percent growth rate for Ghana by the end of 2025.
The forecast was disclosed during the release of the IMF’s Global Economic Outlook at the Annual World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC last week.
The IMF’s report also indicated a growth rate of 2.8 percent for Ghana by the close of 2024, aligning with the government’s forecast outlined in the 2024 budget.
Conversely, the World Bank anticipates a slightly higher growth rate of 2.9 per cent for the same period.
Insiders at the IMF attribute Ghana’s projected growth to ongoing reforms under the three-year $3-billion IMF programme, suggesting that adherence to programme conditions could expedite the nation’s recovery.
While the IMF’s optimism surpasses that of the World Bank for Ghana’s economic rebound, the latter forecasts a growth rate exceeding 5 per cent by 2026, heralding a return to pre-pandemic levels.
However, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and election-related spending are cited as potential obstacles to Ghana and other developing countries’ economic recovery, as expressed by Pierre-Oliver Gourinchas, Director of Research at the IMF, during the Global Economic Outlook launch in Washington DC.
Also, in March this year, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said excessive spending during the 2020 election was a contributory factor to Ghana’s economic crisis.
In an interview, last week, she said although the COVID-19 pandemic “brought so much hardship on people”, the “excessive spending during the general elections period” also played a role.
“Learn lessons from the past, apply for the future,” she advised.
The IMF MD earlier met with President Akufo-Addo and praised Ghana’s economic recovery journey.
“Your growth is better than expected, your inflation is lower than expected, the progress in debt restructuring has been faster than expected and now the task is to cement what has been achieved and do it with the unity of this country”.
She added: “It is the year to bring confidence in Ghana domestically and internationally at the level it was before.”
“It is possible because we are seeing a world slightly better, so the economic attributes are better, and the critical resource of money will go where confidence in the capacity to perform is highest”, she explained.
“So, Ghana can be in this place, as it was before. We need to stay the course, Ghana has achieved in a short time of the programme – good indicators,” she noted.
For his part, President Akufo-Addo said the IMF programme has yielded dividends.
