A report by the international media has it that the Ghanaian government has not succeeded in reaching an agreement with international bondholders regarding the restructuring of approximately $13 billion of its external debt.
As per a statement from the government cited by the international news outlet on Monday, Ghana failed to secure a deal with two factions of international bondholders regarding debt restructuring.
The report highlighted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that the proposed agreement for bondholders would not align with debt sustainability parameters.
Moreover, a ‘regional’ group of bondholders, comprising certain African banks, also declined a portion of the proposed deal put forward by the Ghanaian government.
“The Government is actively working on solutions that it believes would be consistent with IMF program parameters under the set of policies currently being discussed, with the objective of reaching a mutual agreement acceptable to all parties,” the statement by the government said, as quoted by Reuters.
In December 2022, Ghana faced one of its severest economic downturns when it defaulted on payments for a significant portion of its external debt, totaling $30 billion.
Subsequently, the country found itself excluded from international capital markets and has now turned to domestic treasury bill markets for borrowing.
Under its 17th IMF bailout program, Ghana, on April 13, 2024, achieved a staff-level agreement with the IMF Mission team regarding a second review, which is expected to unlock a third installment of the bailout funds amounting to $360 million.
During a joint press conference held in Accra, Stephane Roudet, the IMF Mission Chief to Ghana, urged Ghanaian authorities to negotiate an agreement with commercial and bilateral creditors for the IMF Management and Executive Board to approve the next disbursement.