Ghana still striving to reach debt deal with bondholders

Ghana is yet to reach a definitive deal with international bondholders towards the restructuring of about $ 13 billion of its external debt.

The office of the Finance minister reassured Ghanaians Monday (Apr. 15) saying an interim agreement had been reached and that negotiations with bondholders were ongoing.

Reuters reported that Ghana was unable to secure a workable debt deal with two bondholder groups.

Ghana and its creditors seek to arrive to an agreement that is consistent with debt thresholds under the IMF debt sustainability targets.

The hurdle is a setback for Ghana more than a year after the west African nation defaulted on most of its $ 30bn external debt.

76% of Ghana's external debt is held by commercial lenders including bondholders such as BlackRock. Multilateral development banks also hold a significant portion of Ghana's debt, followed by the Paris Club and China.

The debt crisis has further compounded the hardships of Ghanaians as their currency depreciated against the US dollar and inflation soared.

In January, the IMF board approved a $600 mln payout for Ghana under loan programme.

Minister for Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam said on April 14 that the state has “ put in place sufficient control and monitoring mechanisms to ensure key targets under the IMF-supported programme are met, even though 2024 is an election year”.

The minister is leading Ghana’s delegation to the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings taking place in Washington DC.