Removal of Ofori-Atta will not affect IMF negotiations - Fitch

Fitch Solutions has projected that in the possible event of the removal of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, ongoing negotiation with the International Monetary Fund will not be affected.

According to Fitch, this is because the next person tipped to be Ofori-Atta’s replacement, Mark Assibey-Yeboah “would take a more accommodative approach towards negotiations with the Fund.”

Therefore, in the latest article on “Division within Ghana’s Ruling Party to Weigh on Political Stability”, Fitch said with the current state of events a change of finance minister will happen quickly and would not result in significant delays in talks with the IMF.

It said “While Ofori-Atta remained opposed to an IMF bailout – we believe that he [Mark Assibey-Yeboah] would take a more accommodative approach towards negotiations with the Fund. As such, we believe that a change of finance minister would most likely not impact the timeline of IMF negations and we would retain our view that a staff-level agreement will be reached in Q123 [quarter 1, 2023].”

The international research firm also projected an increase in protests and strikes due to the deteriorating living standards in the country.

“Worsening living standards amid rising consumer prices – inflation reached 40.4% year-on-year in October 2022, the highest reading since 2001 – and tighter monetary conditions have led to a 72.7% quarter-on-quarter increase in protests and riots across in quarter 3 2022. The country has also seen large industrial action in recent months, including a three-day retail strike in Accra in October [2022],” it added.

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