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GHANA – Ghanian Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has announced that the country has secured assurances from China and France to proceed with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the restructuring of its external bilateral debts.
According to Norvan Report news, this meant that both China and France were willing to work positively with Ghana on restructuring its debt.
Ofori-Atta mentioned that Ghana had engaged with the Central Bank Governor of China and had not encountered any opposition or reluctance regarding the MoU for debt restructuring.
He also pointed out that the Chinese government had been involved in similar debt restructuring deals with other countries, such as Zambia, Sri Lanka, and Suriname, and he expected cooperation from China in Ghana’s case as well.
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“We have met the Central Bank Governor of China and we don’t perceive any opposition or reluctance in participating positively when it comes to the Memorandum of Understanding on restructuring of our external bilateral debts.
“The Chinese government within the past months is close to reaching a similar deal with Zambia, Sri Lanka and Suriname, so following that trend, we expect some similar cooperation from them when it comes to Ghana. We have made tremendous progress under this framework compared to other countries on a similar path,” stated the Finance Minister.
Ghana’s engagement under the G20 Common Framework for debt restructuring has shown progress and mechanisms to address debt challenges effectively.
The Finance Minister believed that Ghana had made substantial progress within this framework compared to other countries facing similar debt issues.
As for Ghana’s relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country recently reached a staff-level agreement related to the first programme review with the IMF.
This agreement should pave the way for the disbursement of the second tranche of US$600 million under the IMF program, subject to approval by the IMF Board.
To secure this approval, Ghana needs to finalise an MoU with its external bilateral creditors.
The government was aiming to restructure around US$13 billion in debts owed to these bilateral creditors, with China being the largest holder of external debt, accounting for about US$1.7 billion.
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