Ghana has concluded 16 of the 25 bilateral debt restructuring agreements with official creditors, marking further progress towards completing its external debt restructuring programme.
The Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR), in its latest assessment released on the sidelines of the Annual IMF–World Bank Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, said negotiations were ongoing with the country’s remaining non-bonded commercial creditors, whose claims now represent less than five per cent of the debt covered by the restructuring exercise.
The 16 agreements involve members of Ghana’s Official Creditor Committee (OCC), established to coordinate negotiations and facilitate the restructuring of the country’s bilateral obligations.
The latest progress signals that the country is moving closer to concluding the debt treatment process, with outstanding negotiations now largely concentrated on a relatively small group of commercial creditors.
The GSDR said restructuring cases involving Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia under the G20 Common Framework, alongside Sri Lanka and Suriname outside the framework, had continued to advance since April 2026.
Apart from Ethiopia, where a bond exchange remained outstanding, negotiations in the other cases largely involved residual commercial creditors.
The report also highlighted progress in implementing agreements with official bilateral creditors, noting that 22 new bilateral agreements had been signed across the restructuring cases since April.
It added that the Paris Club website provides updates on the implementation of these agreements.
Ghana suspended payments on selected external debts in December 2022 as part of efforts to restore debt sustainability and secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. The suspension covered Eurobonds, commercial loans and selected bilateral obligations.
The country subsequently established its OCC on May 12, 2023, under the G20 Common Framework, to coordinate bilateral debt negotiations.
Financing assurances from official creditors helped pave the way for approval of Ghana’s US$3 billion IMF programme, which included an initial disbursement of US$600 million.
Launched in February 2023, the GSDR brings together debtor countries and official and private creditors to address challenges surrounding sovereign debt sustainability and restructuring, particularly delays in reaching agreements.
Source: businesspostonline
