Source: newsthemegh.com
Dr. Theo Acheampong, an economist and political risk analyst, believes Ghana would probably receive a smaller amount of savings from the foreign debt restructure than anticipated.
Ghana set a goal of receiving approximately $10.5 billion in relief from external debt service between 2023 and 2026 after the successful completion of the domestic debt exchange. The country wants to lower the public debt-to-GDP ratio from 88.1% at the end of 2022 to 55% by 2028.
In terms of additional funding from the IMF ($1.2 billion) and the restructuring of its external debts ($2. billion), the country was expected to receive roughly 4.2 billion dollars this year. However, as it struggles to come to an agreement with its official creditors to help release the second $600 million tranche, it is left with only the $600 million it received from the first tranche disbursement under the IMF deal.
Speaking at a roundtable on the condition of Ghana’s economy, Dr. Acheampong, a senior analyst on S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Economics and Country Risk Sub-Saharan African team, notes that the nation’s failure to reach its funding target may provide challenges.
“Already by the end of this year we would have missed our target on the financing we were to receive because we have not done the full external debt restructuring. So, if you take 600 million from the IMF and divide that by 4.2 billion you get less than 30% of what you are supposed to be coming through this year,” he said.
“So already we have got some problems that we need to address going into 2024. In my view, it is going to be further challenges to be able to get the full measure of what we are looking to get from the external debt restructuring.”, he added.