The team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to end discussions of a possible bailout for the country today.
They have been in the country since last Tuesday.
The year 2014 has not been a good one for Ghana; with the cedi depreciating by about 40% by the end of the first half of the year, prices of goods and services skyrocketing, fuel shortages, labour agitations amongst others.
Even though the Bank of Ghana put out new forex rules to help stabilize the free fall of the cedi, it continued to depreciate.
Governor of the central bank attributed the failure to implementation challenges.
‘There were implementation challenges, people didn’t understand the issues, there were even some misapplications, so we thought the best thing for the country will be if we reverse the rules’
Then there were the budget overruns and a huge budget deficit worsening the country’s challenges.
The wage bill went beyond manageable levels resulting from the implementation of the single spine salary structure.
Revenues declined, with a hold on funds by donor partners while inflation hit a 4 year high now at 15.9 percent.
This coupled with many other challenges pushed government to seek help from the IMF.
The Trades Union Congress had warned government to desist from the move.
Its Secretary General, Kofi Asamoah threatened the union will resist any move by government to go ahead with a program that will lead to job cuts in the public sector.
In a bid however to deal with the matter government together with persons from some selected sectors of the economy between May 13th-15th, met in Senchi for the national economic forum.
A number of strategic recommendations were made there in what became known as the ‘Senchi Consensus’.
The move to go to the IMF was also recommended there.
The country sought help from the IMF on August 8 to assist it get out of its economic challenges thereby prompting a team to come into the country to begin negotiations on September 16.
It is unclear the details of the discussions but Finance Minister Seth Terkper indicates the recommendations from the national economic forum will be used to make a strong case for Ghana.
The IMF programme is expected to last three years and will begin in January 2015.
Business World (with notes from citifmonline)