The country has enjoyed a debt relief of $2.8 billion from its Official Creditors as a result of the debt restructuring exercise embarked on by the government under the three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement with the International Monetary (IMF) in 2022.
All the 25 participating countries under the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) co-chaired by China and France, the countries Ghana owes, have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the government earlier reached with them as part of the country’s debt restructuring exercise.
Ghana in 2022 embarked on an ECF programme with the IMF for a balance of payment support of $3 billion to restore macroeconomic stability.
Speaking at a press conference on the signing of the MoU with the OCC participating countries, the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, said the signing of the agreement constituted an important milestone in Ghana’s debt restructuring journey.
He said Ghana was now entering the final stage of the restructuring process and had a strong and detailed framework to implement the financial terms through bilateral agreement with it official creditors.
“Ghana extends its gratitude to all members of the OCC, particularly the committee’s co-chairs, China and France, for their unwavering commitment to assisting Ghana in resolving its debt issues,” the Finance Minister stated.
He said the signing of the MoU formalised the debt treatment agreed with Official Creditors and marked a crucial step towards Ghana restoring long-term debt sustainability.
“The agreement provides significant debt service relief during the fund-supported programme period, allowing financial resources to be directed towards supporting and strengthening the economic recovery,” Dr Forson stated.
He stated that with the MoU now signed, the agreed terms would be implemented through bilateral agreements with each OCC member.
Ghana, the Finance Minister said was committed to working closely with its Official Creditors to expedite the process for signing the bilateral agreements, saying “Ghana continues to engage in good faith with all commercial external creditors, striving to finalise restructuring agreements that respect Ghana’s need for debt relief and the comparability of treatment principle.”
Dr Forson said the government was making progress with the country’s commercial creditors in the coming weeks to reach a mutual beneficial solution for debt treatment.
“In these discussions, we will be guided by the most favoured creditors’ clause and in the principles of comparability of treatment, offering a precise framing of the terms that creditors may receive,” the Minister stated.
He said, the government was working to expedite the country’s engagement with its creditors in order to complete the remaining seven per cent of the debt restructuring.”
The Finance Minister said the seven per cent of debt to be restructured involved 60 international banks, totalling $2.7 billion, representing three per cent of the country’s total public debt.
“With this progress on the debt restructuring, we will now focus on our economic recovery through the implementation of an ambitious reform agenda, fostering strong, resilient and inclusive growth for all Ghanaians,” Dr Forson stated.
He stressed “We take this opportunity to appreciate the efforts and support so far by the external commercial creditors and urge them to support us to complete this process as soon as possible.”
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
