The government has announced suspension of all debt service payments under certain categories of external debt, pending an orderly restructuring of the affected obligations.

The suspension will include the payments on Eurobonds, commercial term loans, and on most bilateral debt.

This suspension, it said in a statement from the Finance Ministry, will not include the payments of multilateral debt, new debts (whether multilateral or otherwise) contracted after December 19, 2022 or debts related to certain short term trade facilities.

“We are also evaluating certain specific debts related to projects with the highest socio-economic impact for Ghana which may have to be excluded. This suspension is an interim emergency measure pending future agreements with all relevant creditors”, the statement explained.

The statement added that the government stands ready to engage in discussions with all of its external creditors to make Ghana’s debt sustainable through a fair, transparent and comprehensive debt restructuring exercise in line with international best practices.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance will hold an investor presentation at a date to be announced at a later stage.

Government launched domestic debt exchange on December 5

Government on December 5, 2022 launched the domestic debt exchange programme.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, admitted that the Debt Exchange Programme was part of a key requirement for the government to obtain a programme from the International Monetary Fund.

According to him, the government had no choice but to undertake the debt restructuring programme to put the debt level on a sustainable path.

Addressing Journalists to launch the domestic debt operations, he assured the financial sector players of government’s support to minimise the impact of the programme on their activities.