Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has announced the successful completion of Ghana’s debt restructuring program with its official creditors.
According to the Karaga Member of Parliament, the government has restructured $5.1 billion in debt with these creditors and has also finalized the restructuring of $13.1 billion with Eurobond holders.
Speaking at a UK Town Hall meeting, Dr. Amin Adam emphasized that these efforts have led to savings of $8 billion for the country.
“Last two weeks, we concluded negotiations with the official creditors, and we have agreed to restructure 5.1 billion dollars, I am telling you that the government is good in negotiations and of this amount, we are going to make savings of $2 billion.”
“As I speak to you, tomorrow morning, there will be an announcement that we have also concluded our negotiations with the Eurobond Holders of $3.1 billion and ladies and gentlemen when we announce it, please read the details. We have negotiated a good deal for Ghana and that is $8 billion,” he said.
“Ideally, government should not be held responsible for the investment decisions of individuals, but this government is so caring.
“Mistakes were made and people were not well-informed, and they didn’t know who to consult to be advised, but we also know that the people who are affected are suffering, and we have heard that some people have died and others had to commit suicide.”
“This government is so caring that in the first place, we granted some bailout to all the affected and I want to tell you again that the President has directed that we do another bailout. So between now and October, we will release ¢1.5 billion to the affected people.”
The government recently secured a deal with bilateral creditors to delay interest payments and postpone the maturity date of restructured debt.
To meet its IMF target, Ghana, with an economy valued at $77 billion, must reduce its debt to 55% of GDP by 2028, down from a projected 109% before restructuring began.
The current agreement with bondholders would leave the debt slightly above this target. However, Ghana’s economy performed better than expected in 2023, growing by 2.9% compared to the IMF’s initial target of 1.5%.
This improved performance means a revised Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) can accommodate the bondholder agreement, according to Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam.
Ghana started its debt restructuring efforts over a year ago as part of an IMF deal, reaching a preliminary agreement in January to restructure $5.4 billion in obligations under the Group of 20 Common Framework for Debt Treatment. This set the stage for restructuring Eurobond debt.