Five-member committee to lead IMF stakeholder engagement with financial sector
The government in the coming days will name a five-Member Committee of prominent financial services professionals to lead extensive stakeholder engagements across all the key segments of the financial sector.
Engagement with stakeholders in the banking, asset, management, pensions, and insurance industries of the financial sector is part of government’s broad stakeholder engagement drive as the country seeks to fast-track International Monetary Fund negotiation process in a clear and transparent manner.
Currently there are ongoing engagements with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), social partners (labour unions, employers, and FBOs), academia, industry professionals, and the leadership of Parliament.
“Ghana needs a viable domestic financial system to support its development programme, especially in these three years with limited access to the International Capital Market.
“Therefore, everything must, and will be done, to protect our financial sector; and there must be room for a win-win conversation through extensive stakeholder engagement with both our domestic and external investors” said the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, at a press briefing in Accra.
“We welcome all contribution to this great public debate, but we must be careful to build and not to tear down our nation.”
The sanctity and the well-functioning of the financial system, he said, was sacrosanct as government had earlier worked to protect the savings of 4.6million Ghanaian depositors with the reform of the Banking and financial sector.
Formal negotiations for a Fund-supported programme began on Monday September 26, 2022 and the IMF Mission is covering a period of 10 days.
The IMF/World Bank and the Ghana Team are currently undertaking a debt sustainability analysis (DSA) to inform the programme negotiations.
Meanwhile, IMF and Government Team are working to update the medium-term macro-fiscal framework to inform IMF programme design.
Mr Ofori-Atta noted that government was working to ensure that key aspects of the programme were reflected in the 2023 Annual Budget Statement in November 2022.
“Government is committed to ensuring that a comprehensive package is negotiated with the aim of restoring and sustaining macroeconomic stability, ensuring durable and inclusive growth and promoting social protection.”
According to the minister, Ghana so far has an economic programme that contains a set of time-bound structural reforms and fiscal consolidation measures to place debt levels and fiscal accounts on a sustainable path over the medium-term.
He said that the programme was hinged on seven pillars that included debt sustainability; fiscal consolidation; strengthening monetary and exchange rate policies; building strong financial institutions; macro-critical structural reforms; maintaining peace and security; and economic growth and transformation.
Source: GNA