Excessive spending during the 2020 election is a contributory factor to Ghana's economic crisis, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said.

In an interview with Citi TV, she said although the COVID-19 pandemic "brought so much hardship on people", the "excessive spending during the general elections period" also played a role.

"Learn lessons from the past, apply for the future," she advised.

The IMF MD earlier met with President Akufo-Addo and praised Ghana’s economic recovery journey.

“Your growth is better than expected, your inflation is lower than expected, the progress in debt restructuring has been faster than expected and now the task is to cement what has been achieved and do it with the unity of this country”.

She added: “It is the year to bring confidence in Ghana domestically and internationally at the level it was before.”

“It is possible because we are seeing a world slightly better, so the economic attributes are better, and the critical resource of money will go where confidence in the capacity to perform is highest”, she explained.

“So, Ghana can be in this place, as it was before. We need to stay the course, Ghana has achieved in a short time of the programme – good indicators,” she noted.

For his part, President Akufo-Addo said the IMF programme has yielded dividends.

“The dire circumstances in which we were at the time that we took that very difficult decision and where we are today is a very clear testimony that our decision to seek your support is a decision that was correct, and we have had some benefits from it,” he said.