Africa

Ghana Inflation Slows, IMF Approves "Supervisor"

FILE - Pedestrians walk in front of Ghana's central bank building in Accra, Ghana. Taken Nov. 16, 2015.

Consumer inflation in Ghana slowed slightly to 53.6% year on year in January after hitting a more than two-decade high of 54.1% in December, the statistics service said on Wednesday as the IMF appoints a supervisor to coordinate a financial bailout.
ACCRA — 

Ghana is reckoning with its worst economic crisis in years as inflation, capital outflows, currency pressures and a crushing debt-service burden wreak havoc on public finances.

The government on Tuesday announced the closure of a long-delayed domestic debt exchange plan, but it must now restructure its external obligations before obtaining executive board approval for a $3 billion rescue package from the International Monetary Fund [IMF].

To that end, the IMF has appointed a Swiss-funded financial supervision adviser to provide technical support to the Bank of Ghana as the West African nation strives to obtain executive board approval for a $3 billion bailout.

In a statement on Tuesday, Ghana's central bank said the placement represented continued cooperation between Ghana, the IMF, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.