Demonstrators have taken to the streets in Ghana to protest against the economic crisis Getty Images

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has welcomed efforts from the Ghanaian Government to restructure the country's finances as it begins a visit to Ghana.

The IMF visited the country in October and is set to remain until December 13 in a visit which could determine how much is available to make sure the African Games are able to go ahead as planned in August 2023.

The IMF commended Ghanaian authorities for having "assessed their public debt as being unsustainable over the medium term. 

"Together with efforts to bring the Government deficit down, they have announced their intention to conduct a debt operation to ensure debt sustainability."

"We welcome the authorities’ intentions to implement policies that will ensure the sustainability of public finances," the IMF added.

The IMF has stated that the objective of the visit is "to make further progress towards reaching an agreement as soon as feasible".

Ghanaian media has mentioned a sum of $3 billion (£2.46 million/ €2.86 million) as a target for borrowing over the next three years.

African Games organisers and Government officials have insisted they will not cancel the multisport event despite the crisis and calls from former President John Mahama for it to be cancelled.

Ghanaian Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif has insisted that cancellation would be a waste of funds already invested.

"What the former President failed to understand is that the Government has already committed resources, almost $200 million (£164 million/€190.6 million) in providing sports infrastructure," Ussif told Modern Ghana.

"We all recognise that we are in difficult times but we have already put huge investments in places so we cannot allow them to go to waste," he added.

"Abandoning the idea is rather a waste of the country's resources."

Ghana asked the IMF for help in July following a deterioration of balance of payments as demonstrations protested against economic hardship.

"Ghana’s fiscal and debt vulnerabilities worsened fast amid an increasingly challenging external environment," an IMF assessment stated.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana’s public debt increased significantly."

Problems related to the supply chain because of the war in Ukraine have sent inflation spiralling to 40.4 percent.

Total public debts are calculated at more than $460 billion (£377 billion/ €437 billion) about 76 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

This is above the international accepted threshold of 55 per cent of GDP.