Business News of Thursday, 29 September 2016

Source: starrfmonline.com

IMF approves third tranche of bailout to Ghana

President John Mahama (behind) and finance minister Seth Terkper President John Mahama (behind) and finance minister Seth Terkper

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund has approved the third tranche of $116.2 million under Ghana’s three-year programme with the fund.

It follows the final review of Ghana’s economic performance by the Board under the programme Wednesday.

This brings the amount disbursed so far under the programme to $464.6 million.

The approval of the third tranche which was supposed to be in July delayed because of some concerns over the passage of the Bank of Ghana Amendment Bill and Public Financial Management Bill.

The latest approval comes barely three days after Moody’s B3 rating of the Ghanaian economy, signaling stability from the earlier negative outlook.

According to the agency, the latest rating was driven by “Significant fiscal deficit reduction and institutional reform implementation over the past year under the umbrella of the 3-year IMF programme".

An economic analyst with Databank Courage Kingsley Martey told Starr Business the latest development is a good news for Ghana.