Ghana have announced a suspension of all debt service payments under certain categories of external debt, pending an orderly restructuring of the affected obligations.
The suspension, according to a Press Statement by the Finance Ministry will include the payments on Eurobonds; commercial term loans; and on most of the country’s bilateral debt.
But the Ministry clarified that, “this suspension will not include the payments of our multilateral debt, new debts (whether multilateral or otherwise) contracted after 19th December 2022 or debts related to certain short term trade facilities. We are also evaluating certain specific debts related to projects with the highest socio-economic impact for Ghana which may have to be excluded.”
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The suspension is an interim emergency measure pending future agreements with all relevant creditors, the statement noted.
The Ministry of Finance is set to hold an investor presentation on the development shortly.
“The Government stands ready to engage in discussions with all of its external creditors to make Ghana’s debt sustainable through a fair, transparent and comprehensive debt restructuring exercise in line with international best practices,” said the Finance Ministry.
The Government launched the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme on December 5, 2022, which affects the Government’s bonds listed on the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM).
On Saturday, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced the extension of the Debt Exchange Programme to December 30, 2022. The debt exchange was to deal with the country’s economic crisis.
The Debt Exchange Programme, expected to expire on Monday, December 19, 2022, has been extended with a contemplated settlement date of Friday, January 6, 2023.
The Ministry of Finance, in a statement, explained that the extension comes on the heels of the announcement of the Staff Level Agreement (SLA) between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on December 13, 2022.
