IMF Board Ready To Approve $600 Million Loan For Ghana

It also needs to reach a relief deal with private holders of about $13-billion in international bonds.

The bonds rose almost 1 cent on the dollar on Monday, with the 2042 maturity up the most, climbing 0.82 cents to 43.09 cents, its highest level since early November.

“Recently, China encouraged all parties to overcome technical difficulties and narrow differences, and finally led all parties to reach a basic consensus on Ghana’s debt settlement plan… on January 8,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday.

Some members of the Official Creditor Committee, which is co-chaired by China and France, are still “going through their internal procedures,” she told reporters at a regular news briefing.

Ghana is aiming to restructure $20 billion of external debt, which totalled about $30-billion at the end of 2022, under the Common Framework, a debt restructuring process set up by the G20 countries during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has targeted cutting $10.5-billion from payments due between 2023-2026.

The IMF second tranche payout, once signed off, should also trigger $550-million in additional World Bank funding, Ghana’s finance ministry said on Friday.