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01.09.2010 Business & Finance

Ghana deserves B+ rating - IMF

By Daily Graphic
Ghana deserves B+ rating - IMF
01.09.2010 LISTEN


The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has credited the basis upon which Standard and Poor (S&P) downgraded the country's credit worthiness from B+ to B.

At a press conference in Accra Tuesday the Washington-based monetary fund disagreed with the S&P rating and said considering the relatively strong macroeconomic indicators on the ground coupled with the implementation of reforms within the economy, Ghana did not deserve to be downgraded from its B+ rating.

The Executive Director of the IMP for Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Algeria, Ghana, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan and Tunisia, Mr Mohammad Jafar Mojarrad, stated the IMF's position at a news conference at the Bank of Ghana. He noted that "the rating agency did not have accurate facts and information on the ground to warrant its action because among others, Ghana is credit-worthy and the economy is doing well".

Mr Mojarrad said considering the performance of the Ghanaian economy, it had done almost twice better than the rest of the sub-region put together and noted that the achievements should boost the morale of the government to do more to improve the living standards of the people.

He denied the assertion that the IMF usually sang the praises of ruling governments when they visited those countries and noted that the IMF worked with figures and records on every country and its judgements were based on what was on the ground.

"We are not political with our work because it is the mandate of the Fund that we treat all members equally based on the parameters that have been set for which all members agree to".

Mr Mojarrad said a team of experts from the Fund would be in the country in the next couple of months to assess the performance of the economy and would be able to determine even more regarding the various targets that were set by the government.

A credit rating is Standard & Poor's opinion on the general creditworthiness of a country or institution or the creditworthiness of a country with respect to a particular debt security or other financial obligations.

Mr Mojarrad said the work of some major rating agencies had become a source of concern in recent times because of their inability to assemble the right information and facts to back their work.

"The macroeconomic indicators are very satisfactory now in the country," he said, adding that "inflation has dropped from the 20s to below 10 per cent, the currency has been stable against the major foreign currencies while the government is also on course when it comes to the settlement of its indebtedness to donor agencies, among others".

Mr Mojarrad said in view of these, in was not the right thing for the rating agency to downgrade Ghana from B+ to B.

He also noted that the country had been able to ensure that its reserves were built to levels that could keep the economy going for long and urged the government to continue with its polices that would continuously improve the living standards of the people while making the economy much better than it was before.






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