Ghana fails to reach agreement on debt deal with two international bondholders – Report

The government of Ghana has failed to reach an agreement with international bondholders towards the restructuring of about $13 billion of its external debt, Reuters has reported.

According to the international news portal, which cited a statement from the government as its source on Monday, the country failed to reach a deal with two groups of international bondholders for debt treatment.

The report noted that the International Monetary Fund said the proposed deal for bondholders would not be compatible with debt sustainability parameters.

In addition, a 'regional' bondholder group, which includes some African banks, also rejected part of the deal proposed by the government of Ghana.

"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 installment 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.

MA/AE