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IMF allays fears of debt restructuring speculations

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has allayed the fears of Ghanaians on the back of reports that discussions were set to begin on the restructuring of the country’s debt as part of plans to secure a US$3 billion loan from the Fund.

The Bretton Woods Institution insists the restructuring of Ghana’s debt will be dependent on the outcome of its Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) Report.

This comes at a time where many are speculating that the government might begin to restructure its local debt market, and hence might experience an economic shutdown.

Responding to the question on to whether the government of Ghana needs a debt restructure, the IMF Director of Communications, Gerry Rice, in a news conference in Washington DC, noted that the IMF “still needs to conduct a thorough update of the debt situation in Ghana through our Debt Sustainability Analysis. It will be a new DSA”.

“When a country requests financing from the IMF, we assess whether the country’s policies are consistent with debt sustainability as one of our requirements.”

This, he said will inform the next line of action as government and the Fund remain committed to ensuring no harm is done to the interest of stakeholders as a result of this program.

Explaining further, Mr. Rice said, “The last DSA that we published as part of the 2021 Article IV Staff Report with Ghana said [Ghana’s] public debt was sustainable conditional on a rigorous and credible implementation of the authority’s medium term consolidation plan to put debt on a declining trajectory and ensure continued market access.”

“Of course, this was in 2021. We all know what has happened in the world since then for every country. Ghana’s been affected by what’s been happening in the world as well as many other countries. So we’ll be coming with an update on the debt situation on Ghana.”

Meanwhile, the IMF team are in town to continue official negotiations with government for the bailout program.

Source: Ghana Business

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