China seeks to enhance communication with Ghana in order to find a proper solution to the country’s debt problem, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, March 23.
Wang Wenbin made the remark in response to a question about Ghana’s finance minister visiting Beijing for a proposed debt restructuring.
According to a source familiar with the talks, Ghana’s finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, travelled to Beijing on Wednesday to meet with Chinese officials to discuss a proposed restructuring of Ghana’s debt.
“The talks are expected to focus on ways to reduce Ghana’s debt burden and secure additional financing assurances for the country’s economic programme,” the source said, asking not to be named because the talks are private.
Ghana, which is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, secured a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December for a $3 billion loan, though the IMF’s board requires lenders to provide financing assurances before signing off on the programme.
With approximately $1.7 billion in debt, China is Ghana’s largest bilateral creditor.
The government’s current priority is to obtain IMF board approval, with the fine details of debt treatment operations coming later, according to the source. The meetings are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
This month, a Chinese delegation visited Ghana for preliminary debt talks, which the finance ministry described as “cordial and fruitful.”
Ghana suspended most of its external debt payments last year, effectively defaulting, and is still negotiating a resolution with its private international bondholders.
Ghana has already restructured its domestic debt and has requested that its bilateral debt be restructured through the Group of 20 major economies’ common framework platform. An official creditor committee for negotiations with sovereign creditors is still in the works.
