Terkper hails Moody’s rating

Finance Minister Seth Terkper has welcomed Moody’s rating of the Ghanaian economy as stable.

“The factors that are leading to the upgrade are the IMF programme, the home-grown policies and the general performance of the economy as a whole,” he told Citi FM.

He added: “What we have seen is the downgrade stopping, and we remaining at our ratings. We are hopeful that the other rating agencies which also halted the downgrade will also start moving towards a positive rating.”

The international rating agency defined Ghana’s economy as stable, affirming it three with a B1 rating.

Since 2015, Moody’s has rated the Ghanaian economy at B3/ negative.

The latest decision to rate the economy stable, Moody’s said in a statement, was informed by three key drivers.

The first is the country’s debt reduction and reforms. The second is the reduction in government liquidity risk and the third is improved balance of payment dynamics and development in the country’s oil and gas sector.

It said “the first is the "significant deficit reduction and institutional reform implementation over the past year under the umbrella of the three-year IMF programme which started in April 2015".

Second is the "Reduced government liquidity risk on the external side after the successful issuance of a recent $750 million Eurobond in earmarked to redeem the remaining $400 million October 2017 Eurobond maturity."

The third is improve payment dynamics and development in the country’s oil and gas sector which has attracted high foreign direct investment, reduced currency volatility and supporting buffer reserves.