Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, says that Ghana has been granted debt relief of $2.8 billion by its Official Creditors as a result of the debt restructuring exercise embarked on by the government under the three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement with the International Monetary (IMF) in 2022.
The minister told a news conference in Accra that the signing of the MoU with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) participating countries constituted an important milestone in Ghana’s debt restructuring journey.
He explained that all the 25 participating countries under the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) co-chaired by China and France, the countries Ghana owes, have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the government earlier reached with them as part of the country’s debt restructuring exercise.
Ghanaian travel guides Ghana in 2022 embarked on an ECF programme with the IMF for a balance of payment support of $3 billion to restore macroeconomic stability.
According to him, Ghana is now entering the final stage of the restructuring process and had a strong and detailed framework to implement the financial terms through bilateral agreement with it official creditors.
“Ghana extends its gratitude to all members of the OCC, particularly the committee’s co-chairs, China and France, for their unwavering commitment to assisting Ghana in resolving its debt issues,” the Finance Minister said.
He said the signing of the MoU formalised the debt treatment agreed with Official Creditors and marked a crucial step towards Ghana restoring long-term debt sustainability.
“The agreement provides significant debt service relief during the fund-supported programme period, allowing financial resources to be directed towards supporting and strengthening the economic recovery,” the report by the Ghanaian Times quoted Dr Forson as saying.
He stated that with the MoU now signed, the agreed terms would be implemented through bilateral agreements with each OCC member.
The Minister said that Ghana was committed to working closely with its Official Creditors to expedite the process for signing the bilateral agreements, saying “Ghana continues to engage in good faith with all commercial external creditors, striving to finalise restructuring agreements that respect Ghana’s need for debt relief and the comparability of treatment principle.”
Dr Forson said the government was making progress with the country’s commercial creditors in the coming weeks to reach a mutual beneficial solution for debt treatment.
GIK/APA