File photo of Ghana cedis notes
Ghana’s currency surged as much as 3.1% against the dollar after the government said that it had received support from more than 80% of bondholders to restructure its local-currency debt.
The cedi was trading 1.3% stronger at 12 p.m. local time, heading for the biggest gain in almost three weeks. It’s still the worst-performing currency tracked by Bloomberg after the Lebanese and Egyptian pounds this year.
The support from the majority of local bondholders was a key step for President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration as seeks to finalize a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Besides the reorganization of 137.3 billion cedis ($11.3 billion) of domestic loans, Ghana is also in talks to restructure bilateral and other external debt after suspending interest payments on $13 billion of eurobonds.
With repayments suspended on domestic debt, the government will resort to “significantly lower” central bank financing when compared with 2022, Mark Bohlund, an analyst with REDD Intelligence, said in an emailed response to questions. That should be “supportive of the cedi,” he said.
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