IMF staff and the Ghanaian authorities have reached staff-level agreement on economic policies and reforms to conclude the second review of the 36-month ECF-supported program. Ghana will have access to about US$360 million in financing once the review is approved by IMF Management and formally completed by the IMF Executive Board; Performance under the program has been generally strong, with most quantitative objectives met and key reforms implemented. The authorities’ strong policy and efforts have continued to yield positive results: economic growth is higher than initially expected; inflation has continued to decline; and both fiscal and external positions have improved significantly in 2023; To ensure timely completion of the review, Ghana and its official bilateral creditors need to reach agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a debt treatment, consistent with the agreement in principle reached in January 2024.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team, led by Mr. Stéphane Roudet, Mission Chief for Ghana, held meetings in Accra during April 2-12, 2024, to discuss progress on reforms and the authorities’ policy priorities in the context of the second review of Ghana’s three-year program under the Extended Credit Facility. The arrangement was approved by the IMF Executive Board for a total amount of SDR 2.242 billion (US$ 3 billion) on May 17, 2023.  

At the end of the mission, Mr. Roudet issued the following statement:

“I am pleased to announce that IMF staff and the Ghanaian authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the second review of Ghana’s economic program under the Extended Credit Facility arrangement. This staff-level agreement is subject to IMF Management approval and Executive Board consideration once the necessary financing assurances have been received. An agreement between the Ghanaian authorities and their official creditors on an MoU for a debt treatment in line with program parameters, would provide the needed financing assurances. Upon completion of the Executive Board review, Ghana would have access to SDR 269.1 million (about US$ 360 million), bringing the total IMF financial support disbursed under the arrangement since May 2023 to SDR 1,171.9 million (about US$ 1,560 million).

“Performance under the IMF-supported program has been generally strong, with most quantitative targets met. Good progress has also been made on the key structural reform milestones. The authorities’ policies and reforms to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while laying the foundations for stronger and more inclusive growth are already generating positive results.

“Economic activity in 2023 was more robust than initially envisaged, and growth projections for 2024 will be revised upward. Monetary policy has remained appropriately tight, allowing for inflation to decline rapidly.

“On the fiscal front, consistent with the authorities’ commitments under the IMF-supported program, the fiscal primary balance on a commitment basis improved by over 4 percentage points of GDP in 2023 and is on track to achieve a fiscal primary surplus of ½ percent of GDP in 2024. Spending has remained within budget limits, while the authorities have significantly expanded social protection programs to help mitigate the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable. Ghana has met its non-oil revenue mobilization target, while making progress in implementing ambitious structural fiscal reforms to bolster domestic revenues, strengthen public financial and debt management, and enhance transparency.

“The external sector has improved significantly, with international reserve accumulation ahead of program objectives. Financial stability has been preserved, with banks posting solid profits in 2023.

“Given Ghana’s strong progress under the IMF-supported program, the next key step for the country is to reach an agreement with its official bilateral creditors on an MoU consistent with the terms agreed in January 2024. We look forward to the authorities’ continued efforts to reach an agreement with all creditors in line with program parameters.”

IMF staff held meetings with Finance Minister Adam, Bank of Ghana Governor Addison, and their teams, as well as representatives from various government agencies. The IMF team also engaged with other stakeholders. The IMF staff team would like to express their gratitude to the Ghanaian authorities and other counterparts for their continued open and constructive engagement.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Sudan’s war has claimed thousands of lives, forced millions from their homes, and sparked economic turmoil across the region that is deepening the hunger crisis, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) as the conflict approaches its one-year mark.

In Sudan, areas of agricultural land have turned into battlegrounds, while farms and businesses stand abandoned as people have fled for safety. There are huge cash shortages nationwide, and repeated cuts to communication channels hinder efforts to keep commerce going. Food prices in Sudan are 73 percent higher than last year and 350 percent above the five-year averages, exacerbated by the currency’s devaluation. The ripple effects are felt in South Sudan and Chad where disrupted trade and massive population displacements are straining resources and intensifying hunger.

“Millions of people in Sudan, South Sudan and Chad are being threatened by starvation because this war has laid waste to agriculture, businesses and national economies – leaving its victims hungry and penniless,” said WFP’s Executive Director Cindy McCain. “The fighting must stop now, or the region may soon become the world’s largest hunger crisis.” 

The lean season in Sudan is just around the corner. It is starting earlier and expected to run for longer because the war has severely limited the last harvest season. A crop assessment conducted by FAO shows national cereal production at 46 percent below 2023 levels and 40 percent below the five-year average as the conflict has destroyed swathes of farmland, both directly as well as indirectly by forcing farmers from their land. Meanwhile, fertilizers and fuel have become unaffordable for those farmers who can still tend their fields.

Sudan will be unable to finance the import of sufficient food stocks to cover the shortfall. Last year alone, the price of staple grains doubled and is expected to rise further because of the latest poor harvest. This will lead to even more severe food shortages during the lean season, with a devastating impact for the millions of people who are already struggling with record levels of hunger, disease, and malnutrition

South Sudan’s economy is plummeting as families grapple with hyperinflation and extreme currency depreciation, driven in part by a rupture in the country’s main oil export pipeline that runs through Sudan in March. Oil is the main source of revenue for South Sudan. Meanwhile, cross-border trade from Sudan – a lifeline for landlocked South Sudan – has come close to a standstill since the onset of the war.

This economic turmoil risks pushing one million people into severe food insecurity in South Sudan, where already over half the population – 7.1 million people – are acutely hungry, new modelling from WFP shows. Food prices have more than doubled in some areas and around four in five households in South Sudan may be unable to afford food essentials.

A similar scenario is playing out in Chad, where food prices in the east have nearly doubled in the last year. Border closures have severely restricted trade and the availability of food in the markets. Nearly half of all refugees and returnees in eastern Chad are facing acute hunger as the lean season approaches.

With fighting only intensifying, the trajectory of Sudan’s war remains deeply alarming: it will trigger the world’s largest hunger emergency as the impacts of the conflict reverberating around the entire region There are 28 million already food insecure people across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad who will slip into even deeper and more severe levels of hunger.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).

The Men5CV vaccine offers a powerful shield against the five major strains of the meningococcal bacteria – A, C, W, Y and X – which cause the disease. 

Known by the brand name MenFive, it provides broader protection than the vaccine currently used in much of Africa, which is only effective against the A strain. 

Defeating a ‘deadly foe’ 

“Meningitis is an old and deadly foe, but this new vaccine holds the potential to change the trajectory of the disease, preventing future outbreaks and saving many lives,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General.  

The rollout in Nigeria represents one step closer towards the goal of total elimination by 2030, he added. 

Meningitis is the inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord and can be fatal. Symptoms often include headache, fever and stiff neck. 

There are multiple causes, including viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic pathogens. The most serious – bacterial meningitis – can also result in blood poisoning and can seriously disable or kill within 24 hours after being contracted.   

Vaccination campaign 

Nigeria is among the 26 meningitis hyper-endemic countries of Africa, an area known as the African Meningitis Belt.  

WHO said 153 people died in an outbreak in Nigeria between 1 October 2023 and 11 March of this year. A vaccination campaign was launched in late March to reach more than a million people aged 29 and under. 

“Northern Nigeria, particularly the states of Jigawa, Bauchi and Yobe were badly hit by the deadly outbreak of meningitis, and this vaccine provides health workers with a new tool to both stop this outbreak but also put the country on a path to elimination,” said Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate of the Nigerian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. 

WHO said the new vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce meningitis cases and advance progress in defeating the disease, which is especially important for countries like Nigeria where multiple serogroups are prevalent.  

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.

The commemoration in the General Assembly Hall was held to remember the victims and honour the survivors and those who tried to stop the genocide.

Focus was also on young people who have grown up in its shadow, and on countering hate speech which fuelled the killing and has become a growing global concern today. 

100 days of terror 

“The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda 30 years ago is a stain on our collective consciousness and a brutal reminder of the legacy of colonialism, and the consequences of hate speech,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his opening remarks. 

More than a million people – overwhelmingly Tutsi, but also Hutu and others who opposed the genocide – were slaughtered over 100 days, starting on 7 April 1994. Many were hacked to death with machetes. 

It was a period when “neighbours turned on neighbours, friends became murderous foes, and entire families were wiped out,” Mr. Guterres recalled. 

“The carnage was driven by an explicit intent to destroy members of a group simply because of their ethnic identity,” he said. 

Never again 

The President of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis, said the “horror born of a virulent and senseless level of hatred” that engulfed Rwanda three decades ago “should never be allowed to rear its venomous head again in the human conscience and heart.”

He urged people everywhere to learn about the dangerous consequences of hate speech, especially in the era of social media “where unguarded words we utter can spread like wildfire”, as well as the ramification of international inaction in the face of conflict.

“The genocide against the Tutsis had warning signs which were not fully heeded and it unfolded in full view of the global community – which dismally failed Rwanda by not taking swift action to prevent or stop it,” he said. 

“Let us always remember that peace requires an active effort – and most importantly, prevention.” 

Carrying the memories 

Rwandan song writer and author Claver Irakoze was just a child when the unspeakable violence began. His father taught at a secondary school in Kapagyi, located roughly 40 kilometres southwest of the capital, Kigali, and the family sought shelter there. 

Early on the morning of 28 April, soldiers came to the school and took away 61 men, including his father, loading them “like cargo” onto a truck.  

“That was my last time I saw my father,” he said. “I remember him faintly waving good-bye at me, so powerlessly. It is an image that still comes to my mind whenever I think about him.” 

Mr. Irakoze has since written two children’s books to teach lessons of hope and healing. He is also a husband and the father of a boy, 9, and a girl, 11 – the same age he was when the genocide began.

“Our killers wanted us wiped out, but we are here,” he said. “And through us and our children, we carry the memory of those we lost.” 

Lighting the way forward 

Rwanda has risen from the ashes “becoming an outstanding example of what is possible when a nation chooses the path of reconciliation and renewal,” said Ernest Rwamucyo, the country’s Ambassador to the UN. 

He paid tribute to Mr. Irakoze and other survivors who illuminate the path to healing and reconciliation.  

“In acknowledging the sacrifices made by survivors, we reaffirm our collective resolve that the lessons of history are never forgotten. Their narratives compel us to redouble our efforts in the pursuits of justice, accountability and peace.” 

Remember. Unite. Renew. 

As part of the commemorative events, the UN Department of Global Communications has mounted an exhibit in the Secretariat lobby – Remember.  Unite.  Renew. – that highlights the power of post-genocide reconciliation, the potentially deadly impact of hate speech and what visitors can do to say #NoToHate. 

At the heart of the exhibit is the story of Laurence Niyonangira, who fled the killings in her community, led by former neighbours following targeted hate speech. She lost 37 family members in the genocide. 

“As survivors, we can only heal our wounds with the people who created them,” she said on the reconciliation process with Xavier Nemeye, one of the men who killed her mother and sister.  

The exhibit includes an interactive panel where visitors can voice their support for tolerance and pledge to speak out against hate speech. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.