Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, president of the Republic of Ghana, has given the finance minister instructions to begin official negotiations with the IMF.

This information may be found in a statement made on Friday, July 1, 2022 by Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

The president reportedly gave the finance minister instructions to ask the IMF to endorse a government of Ghana-developed economic program, according to the statement.

The statement read, “The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been invited to support an economic program put together by the Government of Ghana. President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has authorized Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to begin formal engagements with the IMF.”

The IMF assistance will, among other things, “help Ghana’s balance of payment as part of a larger effort to expedite Ghana’s build back in the face of problems imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently, the Russia-Ukraine situation,” according to the ministry of communications.

This new development is a departure from the government’s former view on the likelihood of an IMF bailout.

But in a number of cases, the administration insisted against turning to the IMF, instead praising a number of domestic programs as a solution to the problem.

A rescue from the IMF, according to Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, would be terrible for the country in January 2022.

This new development comes as a twist to an earlier position by the government on the possibility of an IMF bailout.

In the face of growing economic hardships, several critics including the opposition National Democratic Congress and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) had implored the government to seek an IMF bailout.

But in several instances, the government insisted against going to the IMF while touting several homegrown policies as remedy to the current situation.