Finance Minister leaves for China for debt restructuring negotiations

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has left the country for China to engage in negotiations on debt restructuring with officials of that country. 

Sources say the Finance Minister left over the weekend via Addis Ababa where he is attending the UNECA High-Level Ministers meeting on Global Financial Architecture.

After that meeting, Mr. Ofori-Atta is expected to head to China, possibly on March 22, 2023.

The Minister who is leading the government delegation is expected to continue bilateral talks with China as well as seek financial assurances for Ghana’s program with the International Monetary Fund.

The trip was postponed to the end of March because it coincided with the National People’s Congress of China meeting in early March 2023.

The Minister of Finance has already held meetings with officials of Exim Bank China in Ghana, all in the line of re-profiling the country’s debt to China.

Mr. Ofori-Atta, in an earlier meeting with the German Finance Minister, said China has committed to bilateral negotiations.

In view of that, he is hopeful a deal can be reached to enable Ghana to present its case before the IMF Board.

Securing a deal from these creditors will go a long way to getting IMF Board approval for Ghana’s Economic Programme.

Reports indicate that there has been some significant progress on negotiations with the Paris Club, with requisite documentation submitted and the expectation of the formation of a creditor committee expeditiously.

Ghana is hoping to restructure $5. 7 billion of its external debt, with China holding a third of the bilaterals amounting to $1.7 billion.

The structure of Ghana’s external debt shows that the country owes China about $1.7 billion; Eurobonds, $13.1 billion, and Multilateral, $ 8.1 dollars.

The rest are Paris Club countries, $1.9 billion, and other creditors, $3.2 Billion.