Ghana's new finance minister pledges to keep IMF program on track

Ghana's new finance minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, pledged on Thursday to keep the country's $3 billion International Monetary Fund program on track, as it aims to finish restructuring its overseas debt before an election in December. President Nana Akufo-Addo replaced Ken Ofori-Atta with Adam, a petroleum economist who was minister of state at the finance ministry, in a cabinet reshuffle after criticism of the ex-banker's leadership during the West African country's worst economic crisis in a generation.

Ghana's new finance minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, pledged on Thursday to keep the country's $3 billion International Monetary Fund program on track, as it aims to finish restructuring its overseas debt before an election in December.

President Nana Akufo-Addo replaced Ken Ofori-Atta with Adam, a petroleum economist who was minister of state at the finance ministry, in a cabinet reshuffle after criticism of the ex-banker's leadership during the West African country's worst economic crisis in a generation. Ofori-Atta negotiated the IMF bailout loan to address the crisis, which saw inflation and debt servicing costs spiral upwards in 2022. He was, alongside Adam, seeking relief on about $13 billion owed to private bondholders when he was removed.

With nine months until an election in December, some analysts fear the new minister could relax fiscal consolidation to bolster the electoral fortunes of the ruling party. "I am going to make sure that the (IMF) program doesn't truncate," Adam, once deputy minister of energy in charge of petroleum, told Accra radio station CITI FM.

He also assured the IMF and investors of sticking to "commitments", while speeding up negotiations with the World Bank to unlock funding tied to the bailout program. The IMF has expressed its support for the new minister.

The World Bank board last month approved $300 million for Ghana, after it reached a deal to restructure $5.4 billion of loans with its official creditors. Ghana is entitled to a three-part, $900 million Development Policy Operation loan from the World Bank and Adam said negotiations for the next disbursement were about to start.