Nothing worthy to celebrate about recent Fitch upgrade – Isaac Adongo

Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Isaac Adongo, has slated the recent Fitch upgrade of Ghana’s Long-Term (LT) Local-Currency (LC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC’ from ‘RD’ (Restrictive Default).

According to him, there is nothing worthy to celebrate about the development as the current economic crisis in the country persists with Ghana on the brink of debt default.

In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Isaac Adongo pointed out that although Fitch has stated recent gains made by Ghana on the back of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, government has only postponed the problem of debt default as the external debt restructuring is yet to take place.

“Fundamentally, there is nothing worthy to celebrate about the upgrade because what they have simply done is deny poor people and pensioners their monies and Fitch is celebrating that as a gain but to the people affected, they will not be happy and will not celebrate such a rating,” Isaac Adongo stressed.

The Bolgatanga Central lawmaker further described Fitch’s upgrade as a postponement of the country’s debt situation which has offered the government some breathing space.

“It is not about the economic recovery or improvement but about the implementation of the domestic debt exchange programme where we have engaged creditors on different terms which have created some room for breathing and so, that cannot be something that we should be celebrating,” Adongo is quoted by citinewsroom.com

Meanwhile, on March 22, 2023, Fitch upgraded Ghana’s Long-Term (LT) Local-Currency (LC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC’ from ‘RD’ (Restrictive Default).

It explained that the development follows the completion Domestic Debt Exchange Programme on February 21, 2023.

Fitch however said it viewed the transaction as a distressed debt exchange within the context of heightened fiscal pressures, with interest costs amounting to 54 percent of revenues in 1H22, and a lack of access to international capital markets.



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