The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday released a statement announcing “good progress” following meetings with Ghana representatives discussing a new IMF program for the African nation. The parties also held talks on the subject in Ghana this fall. Ghana received previous financial assistance from the IMF through an extended credit facility arrangement from 2015 to 2019.

Ghana is seeking renewed IMF support due to economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Ghana’s public debt increased by 15 percent to 80 percent of its GDP, and the war in Ukraine. Since January, the Ghanaian cedi has fallen over 49 percent in value against the US dollar amid high year-on-year inflation, which was calculated by the country’s Statistical Service to be 37.2 percent in September.

In a speech last week, Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana admonished the “derisory” $55 million offered to the Africa by four participating European governments during the Rotterdam Africa Adaptation Summit on September 5.