Notes from Recent IMF Staff Visit to Ghana
- Large fiscal slippages observed last year will require strong efforts of fiscal consolidation – aka more austerity.
- Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) monetary policy has been instrumental in mitigating inflationary pressures in 2016
- Ghana’s economy continues to face challenges. Estimated economic growth of 3.6% in 2016 (vs. target of 3.3%)
- Current account deficit narrowed to 6½ percent of GDP, contributing to a small buildup of foreign exchange reserves.
- Overall 2016 fiscal deficit (on a cash basis) down to 9 percent of GDP (vs. 5¼ percent of GDP target as envisaged under the IMF-supported program. Large deviation was mainly due to poor oil and non-oil revenue performance and large expenditure overruns.
- Government debt-to-GDP ratio increased further to close to 74 percent of GDP at end-2016.
Read more: http://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2017/02/10/pr1743-IMF-Staff-Concludes-Visit-to-Ghana