Finance Minister: 31 January deadline for debt exchange programme not to be further extended
Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has averred government is unlikely to further extend the January 31 deadline for the invitation of bondholders for participation in the debt exchange programme.
Speaking in an interview on the PM Express Business Edition and monitored by norvanreports, the Minister noted that given the pace of negotiations with bondholders and other relevant stakeholders (banks, pension funds, insurance firms, etc), government would be able to achieve its 80% subscription target by individual and institutional bondholders to the debt exchange programme.
According to him, achieving the 80% subscription target by January 31, will be just in time to also achieve an IMF Board approval by end of March this year, adding that any further delays could prove detrimental to the Ghanaian economy.
Speaking further on subject matter, the Minister noted that government had given members of the Paris-Club till the end of February 2023 to agree to a reprofiling of the country’s debt.
“The deadline for the domestic debt exchange programme is unlikely to be extended beyond the January 31 deadline. But I’m confident that we’ll be able to all relevant stakeholders onto the debt exchange programme by January 31 (sic).
“I’m also confident that we will be able to secure an IMF Board approval by March. You know we have done the staff level agreement as you know, we met with the Paris Club membership and we have given them till end of February for us to go through what we call the common framework or some version of it but that will be facilitated, and then we expect them to go to board in Washington in March.
“So really, we don’t have that type of time, because as you know, usually the first quarter is when we would have gone to the international capital market for our usual Eurobond issuance.
“Now that market is not there for us this year, maybe even next year, an agreement in the fund programme is what one is using to be able to give the necessary comfort that is required,” he remarked.
According to the Finance Minister, there is no alternative to the debt exchange programme as it is the only way through which the country can restore macroeconomic stability and re-engineer investor confidence in the Ghanaian economy.
“I have no doubt about it, there is no alternative to the debt exchange programme, it is the only way by which we can reset the Ghanaian economy,” he stated.
The execution of the debt exchange programme for both local and foreign bondholders is to enable government attain a $3bn ECF credit facility from the IMF.
Meanwhile, Ghana, is currently pushing for a relief debt under the G20 Common Framework.
