Ghana President Rules Out Debt Haircuts as Part of Negotiations

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo ruled out debt haircuts as part of negotiations for a ~$3bn support package of from the IMF. Ghana has been in talks with the IMF since July for a three-year extended credit facility (ECF) program and was said to be seeking a $3bn loan from the IMF, double of what it was considering a month prior to that. More recently, it was downgraded to Caa2 from Caa1 by Moody’s upon deteriorating macroeconomic conditions, difficulties in the government’s liquidity and debt sustainability, and increasing risk of default. Akufo-Addo said that Ghana will try reducing its  its total public debt to 55% of gross domestic product by 2028 and pegging its external debt-servicing costs to not more than 18% of annual revenue. Given the overall weakness in Ghana’s economy with debt sustainability issues, the cedi has fallen over 55% YTD against the US dollar, making it the worst performing currency.

Ghana’s dollar bonds were trading stable at ~30 cents on the dollar.

For the full story, click here