Ghana to seek extension of IMF support program

The Ghanaian government is to ask the International Monetary Fund to extend its support program to December 2018.

According to the Reuters news agency, senior government sources say the extension is to boost efforts by the government to stabilize the economy.

The IMF program expected to end in April 2018 was agreed by the previous government to restore stability to the west African nation’s economy that slowed sharply in 2014 due to a fiscal crisis and lower global prices for the country’s gold and oil exports.

Any request for extension would represent a change of course for the Akufo-Addo led government which said after coming to power in January that it wanted the program to end on time.

The December 2018 extension if approved would reassure markets and likely bring in additional funding from the IMF to a program under which Ghana was initially set to receive $ 918 million over three years, the Reuters news agency reports.

The IMF last week said it had suggested to the Ghanaian government to request an extension of the program.