Ghana qualified for a $918 million IMF programme in 2015 and has applied for a $3 billion bailout in 2022 awaiting approval.

Unlike our 16th enrolment in 2015, Ghana’s current unsustainable debt levels will certainly be a huge obstacle in obtaining a deal. A lot of conditions must be met.

According to the International Monetary Fund, “In cases where a country’s debt is assessed as unsustainable, the IMF is precluded from providing financing unless the member takes steps to restore debt sustainability, including by seeking a debt restructuring from its creditors. The IMF and World Bank still need to conduct a thorough update of the debt situation through a new Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), which will then be presented to our Executive Board when it considers the authorities’ program request.”.

The infographic below compares the status of some selected economic indicators in 2015 when government applied for a bailout to that of 2022.

Status of selected economic indicators before an IMF programme: 2015 vs 2022 [INFOGRAPHIC]