Former Vice President and NPP presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has disclosed the "hidden" conditionality in Ghana’s IMF programme that strangled the forex market and caused the rapid cedi depreciation in 2022-2024.

Speaking on Thursday during a meeting with members of the Ghana Small-Scale Miners Association in Accra, Dr. Bawumia  said the IMF had capped Bank of Ghana’s market support to a maximum of $80 million a month.

“One of the restrictions for the IMF programme that we engaged in was the amount of foreign exchange that the central bank could use to intervene to support the cedi. We were given a maximum of $80 million a month,” he told the small-scale miners as he shared with them the positive impact of the “Gold for Reserves” programme he proposed in the midst of economic crisis and the IMF's restriction. 

That meant a maximum of $960 million for a whole year, far below Ghana’s monthly demand for dollars to pay for fuel, machinery, medicine and other imports, he stressed. 

“So, we were really constricted in terms of availability of foreign exchange. And at the same time, the cedi was depreciating almost on a daily basis.”

He explained that the restriction was part of the IMF’s reserve accumulation strategy but it had the side effect of creating scarcity.

The good news, he said, is that the restriction was lifted in January 2025 because enough reserves had been built through the Gold for Reserves programme he proposed to the Bank of Ghana. 

“Because we had built up the foreign exchange reserves through Gold-for-Reserves, that restriction was removed. And since then, the Bank of Ghana has been able to put in at least $1 billion a month in the market. From $80 million maximum per month ($960 million per year) to $1 billion a month!!! We couldn't even do $1 billion a year before.”

This, he emphasized, is the foundation for the current currency stability.