Press spotlights appeal by IMF for support in restructuring Ghana’s debts, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The plea by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked countries to support Ghana’s efforts to restructure its debt in order to secure a bailout from the Bretton Woods institution is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked countries to support Ghana’s efforts to restructure its debt in other to secure a bailout from the Bretton Woods institution.
The fund urged bilateral creditors to quickly form creditor committees to help fast track the external debt restructuring process as well as provide financial assurances for the fund-assisted programme.
The Director of the Communications Department of the IMF, Julie Kozack, made the appeal Thursday during a virtual press conference from Washington D.C. in the United States of America.
Ms Kozack said the financial assurances from Ghana’s bilateral creditors and partners were necessary for presenting the country’s programme request to the IMF Executive Board for final approval.
The board is scheduled to meet in April to consider similar requests from member countries.
Ghana and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement in December last year after the country returned to the fund in July for support to help revive an economy deflated by rising inflation and a falling currency.
As part of meeting the programme requirements, the fund requested that Ghana brings its debt to sustainable levels.
That led to a debt restructuring that has already seen about GH¢87 billion of relatively short-dated domestic debts with average yields of about 19 per cent swapped for relatively long-dated ones with an average yield of nine per cent.
Efforts to restructure the external component under the G20 Common Framework are underway although the government feels the process has dragged.
The newspaper says that the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has agreed to recommend the listing of companies that it has stakes in on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
The investment vehicle has also agreed to develop a sustainable mining program for small-scale miners that will provide feedstock to certified gold for an exchange traded fund (ETF).
These are some of the agreements in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the MIIF and the GSE Thursday.
A statement from the GSE and MIIF said the MOU was signed with the view to establish a practical framework for the development of stronger business relations between the two parties.
It said the agreement also set forth the procedures to create an asset class and promote the trade in mineral securities on any of the GSE’s markets.
“As part of the collaboration, MIIF is expected to recommend all mining companies in which it has equity investments for listing on the GSE.
“Furthermore, MIIF will develop a sustainable mining program for small-scale miners that will provide feedstock to certified gold for an ETF,” the statement said.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the National Identification Authority (NIA)says it has commenced an expedited printing of a backlog of 541,529 national identification cards (Ghana cards) accumulated since 2022.
This follows the payment of GH¢100 million by the government to CalBank PLC to pave the way to clear the backlog which arose from the shortage of blank cards due to financial challenges.
A press statement issued by the NIA Corporate Affairs Directorate and copied the Ghanaian Times yesterday said the preparatory works for the expedited printing started last Wednesday.
The payment of the CalBank debt led to the release of quantity of blank cards to the NIA last week with the printing of the blank cards expected to end next week Wednesday.
“Preparatory works for the expedited printing started on Wednesday, March15 2023 and included the configuration of printers, print servers and laminators, as well as the deployment of additional staff from NIA’s Regional and District offices to augment the staff capacity at the Head Office,” the statement said.
The NIA at the end of the exercise would make the cards available at its Regional and District Offices nationwide and also announce to the public when persons who registered for the cards could go for them.
Additionally, the Authority noted that “it stands committed to serving the public in dignity and integrity while remaining focused, coherent and rigorous as a responsive and responsible public sector institution.”
The NIA has been at the centre of criticism from the public for weeks now due to their inability to print and issue cards to applicants who had been queuing at various centres.
The newspaper says that the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) has appealed to Parliament not to approve 20 per cent excise tax on sweetened fruit drinks and water as that will be inimical to growth of the economy.
Apart from undermining job creation and denying the State of required revenue, the passage of the proposed tax, it said, would go a long way to worsen growth and development in the private sector and Ghana as a whole.
“The private sector is overburdened and yet to recover from the ravages of COVID-19 and global economic decline.
“We would rather recommend to the government to broaden the tax base and net and ensure that a large chunk of people not covered by Value Added Tax (VAT) and corporate tax are drawn into the net,” a statement signed in Accra by Abraham Koomson, Secretary General of GFL stated.
The survival of the local industry, it said, was already threatened by the increased cost of production and the dwindling purchasing power of consumers.
It said if the taxes were imposed, most industry players would be compelled to relocate to neighbouring countries that were offering better and enabling environments for business to flourish.
“While Organised Labour is expecting well-crafted policies to protect Local Industries, the government has slapped an astronomical 30 per cent increment in Electricity tariffs and about 50 per cent on water for Industry effective February 1, 2023.
There is every reason to appreciate government’s determination to raise revenue to meet its statutory obligations, however, at this stage of the economic crisis facing the country, and when there is uncertainty about investments in bonds ahead of an agreement on the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, the introduction of such tax is not going to be healthy for the Manufacturing Industries,” the statement noted.
It said the Federation could not afford to sit on the fence and watch its members reel under the ever mounting taxations of the local Manufacturing Industry saying, that Companies have drastically reduced staff and there was the threat for more fold-ups.
“We make a passionate appeal to you and rely on your high office to consider the plight of workers and act to save the precarious situation since there weren’t broader consultations with stakeholders prior to the presentation of the Bill to Parliament,” the statement added.
Debate on draft of the Excise Duty Amendment Bill, 2022 commenced yesterday in Parliament.
GIK/APA