The Chinese will always negotiate hard – Dr Acheampong on debt restructuring talks

Political Risk Analyst and Economist, Dr. Theo Acheampong, has asked the government to accept the terms proposed by China in its debt restructuring talks.

According to him, this is because China is known for not granting debt forgiveness and Ghana’s request for a 30% to 40% haircut may not be an easy request to grant.

Ghana is negotiating terms of debt restructuring with its external creditors on debt forgiveness as part of the conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund.

The economist advised the government to reduce its expectations to get the assurances as soon as possible.

“The Chinese will always negotiate hard. Ghana would have to come down a little bit on some of the things we are also asking for. If you look at some of the recent market statements, we were pushing for a 30% to 40% haircut on the commercial side, and I suspect a similar thing on the bilateral creditors.

“We need to conclude the deal before the year ends. The more uncertainties that we have, the more this ends up hurting the economy, especially as we get into next year [2024]. The traditional pressures that we see on the exchange rate will start,” he was quoted by myjoyonline.com.

SSD/NOQ

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