Ghana hoping for IMF agreement by next week stated by finance ministry official.
Ghana is also planning to exchange local dollar bills, cocoa bills, and domestic non-marketable debt at a “later stage”.
There is a potential bank recapitalisation will definitely happen.
A financial stability fund with a target size of GHS15 billion ($1.20 billion) is being discussed. Ghana spent GHS22 billion in the recent banking sector cleanup.
Ghana’s government is also planning to restructure its foreign debt, including $13 billion of Eurobonds that have traded at deeply distressed levels of below 50 cents on the dollar for months.
Ghana’s economic recovery efforts could be delayed and complicated if a visiting team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) leaves without a staff-level agreement next week, a finance ministry official said on Wednesday.
An IMF team is visiting Ghana until Tuesday as the country aims to negotiate a relief package before the end of the year to help relieve its debt distress and overcome its worst economic crisis in a generation.
Treasury and debt management director Samuel Arkhurst told reporters on Wednesday that the IMF had “nothing to do” with Ghana’s decision to undergo a domestic debt restructuring.
The IMF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arkhurst told Reuters earlier that the consequences for those who do not voluntarily participate in the domestic bond exchange were still being negotiated, but there were no plans to go to parliament to force domestic bondholders to participate.