"IMF hopes Ghana will reach debt deal with creditors in 2 months"

" IMF hopes Ghana will reach debt deal with creditors in 2 months \r\n The International Monetary Fund (IMF) hopes that Ghana will reach a debt restructuring agreement with bilateral creditors within six to eight weeks, IMF Africa department director Abebe Selassie has said. \r\n An agreement to rework US$5.4 billion of debt to China and members of the\u00a0Paris Club\u00a0of creditor nations would pave the way for a second disbursement from a US$3 billion International Monetary Fund rescue loan. \r\n Abebe Selassie said he hoped the fund\u2019s executive board would be able to consider approving the payment before the end of the year. \r\n \u201cBilateral official debt is significant, but not the lion\u2019s share of the debt challenge of Ghana,\u201d Selassie told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco. \r\n \u201cWithin this stock of obligations that Ghana has to bilateral creditors, the share to the Paris Club is fairly large So we\u2019re hoping that there will be a quick meeting of minds.\u201d \r\n Asked about the timeframe for creditors to reach a deal enabling the IMF to approve the next loan tranche, Selassie said: \u201cHopefully in the next six to eight weeks.\u201d \r\n The staff level agreement on that payout was reached last week. \r\n Ghana is in talks with bilateral and commercial creditors to restructure its debts amid its worst economic crisis in a generation, having been locked out of international capital markets as it struggles with spiralling domestic debt costs. \r\n It is aiming to restructure US$20 billion out of total external debt that was about US$30 billion at the end of 2022, according to a government presentation to investors. \r\n Ghana aims to cut around US$10.5 billion from external debt interest payments over the next three years to successfully implement the US$3 billion loan deal from the IMF. \r\n It is restructuring its external debts through the Common Framework, a debt rework process set up by the Group of 20 leading economies for developing nations in response to the coronavirus pandemic. \r\n The process has been criticised for delays, with China being accused of causing hold-ups \u2013 something it denies. \r\n \u201cThere\u2019s been some learning on the Chinese side, because they\u2019re new creditors,\u201d Selassie said. \u201cHopefully going forward\u2026 we\u2019ll be getting much more rapid response from all official creditors.\u201d "

"IMF hopes Ghana will reach debt deal with creditors in 2 months"

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