Ghana, IMF To Reach Staff-Level Agreement By Tuesday – Report

The government of Ghana and the International Monetary Fund are expected to reach a staff-level agreement on the $3 billion bailout Ghana is seeking latest by Tuesday, December 13, 2022.

According to reuters.com, its sources indicated that the negotiation for the bailout for Ghana sped up after major hurdles in the process were resolved this week.

The report indicated that two sources of Reuters have said that Ghana is expected to get an extended credit facility, an IMF programme that provides financial assistance to countries.

Ghana turned to the IMF for help in July 2022 after the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, had stated that returning to the fund for a bailout was not an option.

The minister, in addition to announcing expenditure-cutting measures in the country’s 2023 Budget and Economic Statement, including a freeze in public sector employment, earlier this week, proposed a debt restructuring programme for the government’s domestic bonds dubbed ‘Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE)’.

He stated in a 4-minute address on Sunday, December 4, that the announcement was in line with the government’s Debt Sustainability Analysis as contained in the 2023 budget he presented to parliament on November 24.

The minister laid out, among other things, the exchange of existing domestic bonds with four new ones, as well as their maturity dates and terms of coupon payments.

He also addressed the overarching goal of the government relative to its engagements with the International Monetary Fund as well as measures to minimize the impact of domestic bond exchange on different stakeholders.

“The Government of Ghana has been working hard to minimize the impact of the domestic debt exchange on investors holding government bonds, particularly small investors, individuals, and other vulnerable groups,” he said, before outlining three main measures:

• Treasury Bills are completely exempted and all holders will be paid the full value of their investments on maturity.

• There will be NO haircut on the principal of bonds.

• Individual holders of bonds will not be affected.