Ghana to finalise external debt restructuring soon – President

President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana expressed his country’s commitment to completing the external debt restructuring process as soon as possible, Reuters reported citing President Nana Akufo-Addo State of the Nation Address in parliament on Tuesday.

“We are committed to concluding the external debt restructuring process as soon as possible, so we move past the crisis. This will enable us to complete substantially projects that have been constrained due to financial challenges,” Akufo-Addo stated in the parliament.

Moreover, the Ghanaian President noted that Ghana had made a significant payment of the second coupon, amounting to 5.8 billion Ghanaian cedis (equivalent to $464 million), to domestic bondholders on February 20th. He highlighted that this payment marked the largest coupon payment made in a single day in Ghana’s history.

The West African country, which defaulted on most of its overseas debt in December 2022 due to soaring servicing costs, has already restructured most of its local debt. However, it still needs to negotiate a deal with private holders concerning approximately $13 billion in international bonds.

($1 = 12.5000 Ghanian cedi)