The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has conveyed its optimism regarding ongoing debt restructuring talks between Ghana and its official bilateral creditors.
The discussions, led by the Official Creditor Committee co-chaired by China and France, are reportedly making “promising progress,” according to the IMF's Resident Representative for Ghana, Leandro Medina.
“We are optimistic that an agreement will be reached soon, allowing to swiftly present the first ECF (Extended Credit Facility) program review to our Executive Board,” said Leandro Medina in an email statement on Tuesday.
Ghana, grappling with its worst economic crisis in a generation, defaulted on a significant portion of its external debt in December 2022.
To navigate through this financial turmoil, the nation needs to secure restructuring deals with official creditors, international bondholders, and other commercial lenders.
The positive developments in the debt restructuring talks have raised hopes for the approval of a $600 million disbursement under the IMF's $3 billion bailout program.
Ghana's Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta mentioned that the government expects to receive a draft term sheet from official creditors soon, setting the stage for IMF Executive Board approval.
As a result, Ghana's sovereign international dollar bonds experienced a boost on Tuesday. The May 2029 maturity saw the most significant rise, reaching 42.67 cents, according to Tradeweb data.
The official creditors of Ghana convened on Monday to discuss the terms of the debt restructuring, as reported exclusively by Reuters last week.