Ghana has been identified as the country with the highest outstanding loan under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Poverty Trust, which is one of the funds countries can access credit from, is designed to provide support for the potential balance of payment issues faced by low-income countries over a period of one to three years.
However, according to the IMF's Quarterly Finance Report for July-ending 2023, Ghana is identified as the country with a high level of debt under the Trust commonly referred to as concessional loan and debt relief trusts.
Could you please clarify why Ghana accounts for nearly 10 percent of the total loans still owed under the Trust by countries, which amounts to 17,684 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR)?The SDR currently stands at 1.689 billion, which is higher than the previous recorded amount of 1.246 billion as of April 30, 2023.
This increase represents a significant growth of approximately 35 percent.
According to the Poverty Trust report, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya secured the second and third positions, respectively.
The Democratic Republic of Congo currently has a debt of 1,295 million SDR (7%) owed to the IMF, while Kenya's debt stands at 1,078 million SDR (6%).
Sudan and Uganda, with an exposure of 992 million SDR (6%) and 903 million SDR (5% ) to the Trust, respectively, are ranked fourth and fifth.
The remaining 11,727 million SDR (66%) were owed to the IMF by the other countries participating in the Poverty Reduction Fund.
Ghana has kindly repaid 8 million in SDR. Could you please clarify that 1 SDR at IMF under the Poverty Trust equals US$1.34294.
In terms of the regional breakdown of the outstanding poverty loans, Africa accounted for a significant portion, specifically 75 percent.Europe was the holder with the least regional influence. It only accounted for one percent.
Ghana is currently benefiting from a US$ 3 billion three-year IMF support programme, which has resulted in the restructuring of domestic and external debts at levels that may be challenging to sustain.
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