Ghana reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on May 15, 2026, closing out the sixth and final review of its three-year, US$3 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament on Thursday.
The IMF Executive Board is expected to formally approve the review by the end of July 2026. Approval would release a final US$370 million tranche and complete the full US$3 billion disbursed since the program began in May 2023.
Government says it met every quantitative target set for the review except one, a ceiling on the Bank of Ghana’s claims on central government, which it missed due to accounting treatment of a recapitalization bond issued to the central bank. All indicative targets, including floors on non-oil revenue and social spending, were achieved.
President John Dramani Mahama told the 77th Annual New Year School on January 6, 2026, that it should be “the last time we will ever go for a bailout from the IMF.”
Once the ECF concludes, Ghana will shift to a 36-month Policy Coordination Instrument, a non-financing IMF arrangement focused on reform monitoring rather than lending. Government describes the shift as a change in relationship rather than a break from the fund, since Ghana remains an IMF member country regardless of the arrangement in place.
The Executive Board’s decision, expected within days of the review’s presentation to Parliament, will determine whether the final disbursement and the shift to the new instrument proceed on the timeline government has outlined.
