Ghana hasn’t defaulted in its international debts payments – Abena Osei-Asare

Mrs Abena Osei-Asare, the Minister of State nominee at the Finance Ministry, says Ghana has not defaulted in the payment of its international debts but rather announced a debt restructuring, which is being pursued.

During her vetting at the public sitting of the Appointments Committee of Parliament in Accra, she said Ghana’s nominal debts now stood at GH¢621 billion, which included the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) bond, Daakye bond and the Sinohydro loan.

Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minority Leader and Ranking Member of the Appointments Committee, asked the nominee that “currently, Ghana has defaulted in the payment of all external debts, all the debts that we owe to other countries – bilateral (excluding multilateral), banks and country to country. Is this the case?”

Mrs Osei-Asare: “Mr Chairman, we haven’t defaulted on the payment of our eternal debts, we announced on the 19th of December, 2022, that we wanted to do a debt restructuring and so, we are halting on.., we did not wait to default but we rather announced.”

She said the Government began and completed the domestic debt exchange and currently working on the external debts, hoping to make inroads and then go to the commercial.

“So, that is what we have done. It is not the same as debt default.”