Accra, December 5th January, 2023 - As part of their Global Immersion Training, about 40 Business and Global Affairs Students and eight Faculty heads of the Georgetown University in Washington D.C have paid a visit to the Ministry of Finance.
Their visit was focused on how the extraordinary shifts which was currently underway in the global power structure, the global economy and the interconnected global problems were impacting politics and business at the country level especially in the Global south.
The primary learning objective for their visit to the Ministry was to enhance their understanding of complex problems and have the ability to tackle complex problems at the intersection of business, policy, and civil society worldwide and also have a deeper understanding of Ghana’s engagement with the IMF and the issues relating to the debt restructuring.
In his welcome address, the Director for Policy Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Augustus Kwasi Adu who spoke on behalf of the Chief Director noted that, the Ministry was grateful to the University for choosing it as one of the preferred places for their visit.
He added that, the Ministry was well positioned to offer the needed information through presentations on Ghana’s negotiation on the IMF, debt restructuring and overview of the macro-economy as requested from the school.
Professor Mario Ramirez, the team's leader, in his brief remarks, thanked the Minister for Finance and the Ministry's staff for the warm reception and stated that the presentations on the Ghanaian economy would help students gain a practical understanding of what they were learning at the University.
He added that, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta came to Georgetown University in October, 2022 for a programme and it was after the programme that they informed him of their desire to also visit the Ministry of Finance as part of their Global Emersion Training.
The first presentation was done by Mr. Kwame Gyesaw, Head of the Macro-Fiscal Unit, at the Economic Strategy and Research Division.
He took them through an overview of the economy and its challenges and explained the recent economic development and challenges of the country stating that, the global conditions affected the conditions in Ghana including the financial and energy sector.
According to him, global inflation, hikes in global interest rate, tighter global financing conditions, hikes in global crude oil among others were some of the challenges that pushed the country to the IMF for financial bailout.
To address the economic challenges in Ghana, Mr. Gyesaw outlined some key strategies put in place by government to fast track the IMF programme negotiations, improve fiscal space, as well as revenue and expenditure measures to improve debt sustainability.
The second presentation was on the Evolution of Ghana’s Debt Challenges and Ghana’s IMF Programme. It was presented by Abdul Fatawu Hakeem on behalf of the Director for Treasury and Debt Management Division, Mr. Samuel Arkhurst
He touched on the macroeconomic instability, rising cost of borrowing, tighter financing conditions and gave an overview of the public debt dynamics and Domestic Debt Exchange programme.
Mr. Hakeem went on to say that the government had made significant progress in restoring macro and micro sustainability and cited the recently announced Staff Level Agreement with the IMF as one of the numerous examples measures put in place to see a turnaround of the economy.
The resource persons answered questions on both presentations. A short video documentary on the Ministry’s values which were Professional, Ethical, Efficient and Responsive (PEER) was shown during the meeting. END