Ghana has officially asked its bilateral creditors for a Debt Treatment initiative under the G-20 Common framework, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, said Thursday.
Addressing parliament on the development, he said the country has consequently co-hosted a meeting with the Paris Club including both Paris Club and Non-Paris Club creditors on 10th January 2023.
“We reiterated the request for expedited treatment under the Common Framework and presented our economic and fiscal outlook as well as the steps undertaken so far with the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
Mr. Ofori-Atta also said the country has commenced the process of negotiating in good faith with its commercial creditors.
He said two preliminary discussions and exchange of information have started on a good footing with representative committees and advisors with the members indicating their commitment to establish a Creditor Committee to assess Ghana’s request for debt treatment under the Common Framework by end February, 2023.
“We hope our commercial creditors will understand our desire to negotiate with our bilateral creditor’s softer terms than the ones we anticipate to propose to them, as a speedy process with the bilateral creditors is needed to pave the way for the discussions with private creditors. Mr. Speaker, we are also approaching major creditors like China and India to ensure that our discussions with the Paris Club is accelerated,” he told Parliament during his address.
Again, he said the country also initiated discussions with the representatives of its international bondholders and their Advisors and substantive discussions are due to start with them in the weeks to come.
