A Deputy Finance Minister Dr Alex Ampaabeng has highlighted Ghana’s recent achievement in negotiating a pivotal agreement with its Official Creditor Committee (OCC), emphasising its potential to fortify national economic policies.

The government has successfully finalised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the OCC regarding debt treatment, following earlier agreements in January 2024. The OCC, led jointly by China and France, played a crucial role in reaching this milestone.

This MoU solidifies the principles agreed with Official Creditors earlier in the year, marking significant progress towards restoring Ghana’s long-term debt sustainability.

In an interview with ChannelOne TV on Wednesday, June 12, Dr Ampaabeng outlined the substantial benefits of this agreement for the Ghanaian economy. 

He highlighted that debt expenditures earmarked for 2024 under the International Monetary Fund programme have been postponed due to the agreement.

Dr Ampaabeng emphasised that without this agreement, significant funds would have been directed towards debt servicing, underscoring the agreement’s positive economic impact.

“Remember, this money would have been put to debt servicing. It's that relief, if you would like to call it. We shouldn’t discount the impact of not having this relief in the first place. We have challenges within healthcare, education, infrastructure and having that relief to be able to meet some of those critical provisions I think is very important.”

“To me, I think it’s really positive because it’s the time when we’re trying to meet our deficit in terms of what we have to do in education and healthcare. Remember this is budgetary support…We’re not doing it for IMF, from where I sit, and with the minister’s leadership, this is what we have to do for Ghana. I hope that getting this leeway, actually allows us to regroup, to be able to come up with some of the policies, measures, to have a solid economy," he said.