The downgrade of Ghana’s long-term issuer credit ratings to Ca from Caa2 by Moody’s, an international rating agency and the report that a team from the IMF is expected in Ghana next week to continue negotiations with the government towards closing a support programmed to the economy are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Moody’s, an international rating agency has downgraded Ghana’s long-term issuer credit ratings to Ca from Caa2.
Ghana has been downgraded deeper into junk territory by Moody’s Investors Service on the likelihood that private creditors will incur steep losses during the government’s planned debt restructuring, Bloomberg reported.
“The country’s credit rating was slashed by two levels to Ca, the second-lowest score at Moody’s, according to a Tuesday statement. That puts Ghana on par with Sri Lanka, which is in default,” Bloomberg reported.
“The Ca rating reflects Moody’s expectation that private creditors will likely incur substantial losses in the restructuring of both local and foreign currency debts planned by the government as part of its 2023 budget proposed to Parliament on 24 November 2022″, Moody’s said in a statement on its website.
“Given Ghana’s high government debt burden and the debt structure, it is likely there will be substantial losses on both categories of debt in order for the government to meaningfully improve debt sustainability,” it said.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s outlook was changed to stable as the restructuring will likely happen in co-ordination with creditors and under a program with the International Monetary Fund, according to Moody’s.
“The stable outlook balances Moody’s assumption that the debt restructuring will happen in co-ordination with creditors and under the umbrella of a funding programme with the International Monetary Fund against the potential for a less orderly form of default that could result in higher losses for private-sector creditors,” Moody’s said.
The newspaper says that the German government has reiterated its commitment to supporting Ghana in implementing measures to counter threats of terrorism and extremism.
According to the Deputy Minister of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, Ms Katja Keul, Germany’s support would focus on prevention and early warning which were critical in curbing terrorism and violent extremism and fight against the threats that confronted the Sahel and gulf regions of Africa.
She was speaking during a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, on the sidelines of the Accra Initiative summit.
The Accra Initiative (AI) is an African-led cooperative and collaborative security mechanism, launched in 2017 under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with his colleagues from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo.
The current membership of the Initiative are Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Mali and Niger.
The Initiative aims to prevent a spillover of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organized crime within the common border areas of member states.
Already, Ms. Keul noted that Germany was supporting the Accra initiative Centre by working with the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in the most vulnerable areas in the provision of relevant equipment and the construction of required facilities.
“This move by Germany has added impetus to the objectives of the Accra initiative to exchange intelligence, build capacity, and provide logistics to augment our own actions against terrorist forces in the Sahel that threaten the Sahelian region and coastal west Africa,” she added.
Apart from the collaboration in the security space, she noted that, the relations between the two countries have been encouraging on the political and economic fronts aimed at propelling the Ghana Beyond Aid and sustainable growth in Africa.
She said Germany would continue its strategic cooperation with Ghana on other projects such as the ‘Digital Ghana Agenda’, which involves the digitisation of services and processes in the country to optimize efficiency and effectiveness.
Additionally, Ms. Keul said the country was working towards enhancing its cooperation with Ghana in the field of electronic waste management for the benefits of both countries.
On her part, Madam Botchwey said the government was focused on strengthening collaboration between countries in the region to promote peace and security.
She said the government would continue to relate diplomatically with all other countries in furtherance of Ghana’s economic growth agenda.
The Graphic reports that a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected in the country next week to continue negotiations with the government towards closing a support programmed to the economy.
The team, which will be led by the IMF Mission Chief to Ghana, Stéphane Roudet, will be in the country from December 1 to 13, 2022.
The fund said in a statement released Wednesday that the team will continue discussions with the authorities on the country’s post-COVID programme for economic growth and associated policies and reforms that could be supported by a new IMF lending arrangement.
“IMF staff will also further engage with other stakeholders during the visit,” the fund.
Ghana requested a fund-assisted programmed in July after the cedi came under intense pressure and inflation soared to record highs.
As of October this year, inflation was reported at 40.4 per cent and the cedi had lost more than 54 percent of its value to the US dollar.
A debt restructuring exercise is currently ongoing to bring the debt to sustainable levels to allow for the fund-assisted programme.
Since the request about three IMF Missions have the country for discussions and similar meetings have been held in Washingtin D.C. in USA.
Ghana can get up to $3 billion in funding under a three-year programme.
The newspaper says that AirtelTigo, MTN and Vodafone will start the deactivation of some category of SIM cards from close of day, November 30, 2022, in compliance with the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation’s directive issued on November 11, 2022.
A statement from the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications said since Sunday, November 20, 2022, its members had been blocking data services for all subscribers who had only completed stage one (linkage to Ghana Card) but not stage two (biometric capture) of the SIM registration process, as directed by the ministry.
It said the category of subscribers to be blocked from November 30, 2022 would include voice, data (Mobile Phones, Mifis, other data providing devices), SMS (incoming and outgoing) and USSD.
Also SIM cards on mobile money services and emergency services would also be blocked once the owners had not completed both stages of the registration process.
“The chamber wishes to once again encourage all subscribers who have acquired Ghana cards but are yet to complete stage two to do so without delay. Our members are obliged by the directive to completely deactivate all subscriber SIMs which have not completed the biometric capture registration by close of business today, November 30, 2022,” the Ghana Telecom Chamber said.
The statement entreated customers of the networks to avoid being barred from using voice, data, USSD, mobile money services and access to emergency services among others by completing the registration process.
“Our members remain committed to supporting the efforts of all stakeholders to ensure that every customer in every part of the country is able to register their SIM card(s) with the Ghana card. We urge all subscribers to note that all network services for those who have done only the first stage registration will be deactivated by close of business today, 30th of November 2022,” the statement said.
GIK/APA