Ghana's Eurobonds extend declines as debt restructuring hits snag

Ghana’s eurobonds extended declines on Wednesday after the country missed a self-imposed deadline to restructure its bilateral debt and S&P Global Ratings warned bondholders face larger losses than anticipated.

The nation’s 2032 dollar securities dropped 0.5% to 36.8 cents in the dollar by 8:18 a.m. in London, bringing their decline this week to 1.7%.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta wanted to reach a restructuring agreement with bilateral creditors by the end of February to help qualify for a $3 billion International Monetary Fund program. So far, Ghana has only partially completed the domestic-debt part of the exchange program.

Meanwhile, S&P said Ghana may have to ask external creditors to write off as much as 50% of the debt it owes them — far higher than the 30% the government initially considered.