Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has cleared the air regarding the $1billion Rapid Credit Facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cushion the economy against shocks that arise from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, the loan comes with no conditions as purported by the opposition National Democratic Congress.
Speaking in an interview this morning monitored by ABC News, the Finance Minister said: “The beauty of this is that the rapid credit facility which we went for I think we are the first to have gotten a double quota of a billion dollars, and it is a zero percent facility, is 10 years, it’s 5 and half years moratorium, and doesn’t come with any conditionalities.”
Revealing when the country can start drawing down these funds he said “We will do all of the paperwork and possibly by the weekend we should have the Bank of Ghana receiving these funds. One of the more crucial elements of this is that when you get these shocks on your economy there is usually a liquidity crisis and when you don’t manage that quickly you then get into an insolvent crisis which then rarely puts you into a tail spend.”
He further said the country will now be able to manage the economy better and absorb any shocks from the coronavirus pandemic.
The IMF approved the disbursement of $1 billion to be drawn under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF).
The Fund’s emergency financial assistance under the Rapid Credit Facility will help address the country’s urgent financing needs, improve confidence, and catalyze support from other development partners.