ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana aims to complete its debt restructuring before the next review of its $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said on Sunday.
Ofori-Atta said the West African nation aimed to reach an agreement with bilateral creditors in coming weeks, adding that it was in the process of getting a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the creditors.
The gold, cocoa and oil-producing nation is in talks with its creditors to restructure its debt as it struggles under its worst economic crisis in a generation.
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Ghana aims to cut around $10.5 billion in interest payments on its external debt over the next three years to successfully implement a $3 billion loan deal from the IMF.
Its debts to countries including China and members of the Paris Club of creditor nations were $5.4 billion of the $20 billion external debt due for restructuring, as of the end of 2022, according to a government presentation to investors. The total external debt stock was about $30 billion.
“We’ve successfully worked with the Paris Club and other creditors to determine the parameters for official debt restructuring under the G20 common framework for debt treatment,” Ofori-Atta told journalists in Accra on Sunday.
“In the coming weeks, we will seek to complete the MoU on terms with bilateral debt treatment,” he added.
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Ofori-Atta said Ghana will continue discussions with private creditors, and Eurobond investors on external debt to reach an agreement with private creditors in the shortest possible time.
“We expect to finalise these negotiations before the next review, which is in September,” he said.
The minister said the government will approve by the end of June an energy sector reform plan which will enable it to tackle debt owed to independent power producers that have risen to $2 billion by May 2023 from $1.58 billion.