Parliament has approved a US$1 billion IMF Rapid Credit Facility to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Ghana’s economy.
The loan comes with a zero percent interest with 5 and half years moratorium and a ten year period of repayment.
Per the loan arrangements, one billion of the amount will be used to finance the electricity relief package for Ghanaians for the next three months.
The rest of the facility will go into financing the 2020 budget which has been thrown largely out of gear due to reeling effects of the COViD-19 pandemic.YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE..
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Commenting on the loan in a debate the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, said the government will explore the possibility of sourcing external financing to deal with the problems created by the pandemic.
The Minister said: “Mr. Speaker, in February we were about to raise three billion dollars from the international markets before the market closed. In the same way, this government moved very quickly when we saw the trend in the world to get this facility approved by the IMF. Across the region our country has enough physical space to confront this crisis alone, the efforts of African countries need to be backed with additional financial systems for an effective policy response for COVID-19. So this government will continue to look for resources to bridge the gap. These are extraordinary times and we must take extraordinary measures to ensure that we protect our people. When we look at the resources that Africans have and the resources that we have seen in the west clearly we will not be able to put our people in this recession time without taking some very serious measures,;;
By: Rainbowradioonline.com
