IMF denies downgrading Ghana to low-income status
Ghana has not been downgraded from a middle income to a low-income status, the International Monetary Fund’s country representative has told Asaaseradio.com.
In a tweet on Monday 12 April, Dr Albert Touna-Mama described reports suggesting that Ghana has be reclassified as a low-income country by the IMF in its April Fiscal Monitor Report as “fake news.”
Per official documents, the generally accepted classification of countries by income level is done by the World Bank. The Bank assigns the world’s economies to four income groups namely low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries.
The classifications are updated each year on 1 July and are based on GNI per capita in current USD (using the Atlas method exchange rates) of the previous year.
Touna-Mama told Asaaseradio.com he does not expect the country’s middle-income status will change anytime soon.
“It has been for more than a while now and it is not expected to change anytime soon as far as I know,” he said in a Whatsapp chat with Asaaseradio.com.
Currently, the IMF’s fiscal monitor breaks down countries into three groupings namely: Advanced Economies; Emerging Market and Middle-Income Economies; and low-Income Developing Countries.
The classification, according to Touna-Mama, is not new and does not have an incidence on the countries’ access to IMF or World Bank facilities.
SOURCE: Fred Dzakpata/AsaaaseRadio
