Interim debt deal with bondholders will undergo tweaks to meet IMF targets - Finance Ministry

The Ministry of Finance has said Ghana and its international bondholders had reached an interim agreement towards the restructuring of about $13 billion in external debt.

In a post shared via X (formerly Twitter) on April 15, 2024, the Office of the Finance Minister-Ghana said the interim agreement must still undergo some tweaks in order to meet the IMF’s debt sustainability targets.

“We will therefore regroup to continue negotiations until we reach a deal that is consistent with IMF debt sustainability targets,” Ghana’s finance ministry wrote in an update on its external debt operations.

The update comes after a Reuters report on Monday citing a government statement said the country had failed to reach a deal with two groups of international bondholders for debt treatment.

"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 experienced one of its worst economic downturns as it defaulted on making payments on most of its external debt, consisting of $30 billion.

The country has since been shut out from international capital markets and has now resorted to the domestic treasury bill markets for borrowing.

Ghana, which is currently under a 17th IMF bailout programme, on April 13, 2024 reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF Mission team on a second review that will pave the way for a third instalment of the bailout funds of $360 million.

IMF Mission Chief to Ghana, Stephane Roudet, during a joint presser held in Accra, however, urged Ghanaian authorities to secure a deal with its commercial and bilateral creditors for the IMF Management and Executive Board to approve the next disbursement.

See the tweet below:

Update on External Debt Operations: Ghana and Bondholders reached an interim deal, which must still be tweaked to meet IMF debt sustainability targets. We will therefore regroup to continue negotiations until we reach a deal that is consistent with IMF debt sustainability targets

— Office of the Finance Minister-Ghana (@oofmghana) April 15, 2024