Ghana

Ghana's government and international bondholders are pushing forward with formal debt talks after advisors to both sides signed non-disclosure agreements, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The West African country, which suspended payments on most of its external debt last year, has picked Lazard as its financial adviser, while a group of international private lenders are represented by Rothschild & Co. Ghana's dollar-denominated debt is more than $13 billion across maturities ranging from 2023 to 2061, according to Refinitiv data.

Ghana’s embattled cedi has rebounded 5% against the dollar in March as the government’s decision to suspend external debt payments eased demand for greenbacks in the local foreign exchange market, Bloomberg News reported. The west African nation unilaterally stopped payments on eurobonds and other external debt in December, pending an agreement with creditors that is needed to unlock an International Monetary Fund bailout. Traders said the impact is beginning to filter through to the currency, after it lost ground in the first two months of the year.

A panel of investors and banks has ruled Ghana’s missed coupon payments on its foreign denominated bonds counts as a failure-to-pay event, paving the way for a payout of the default-insurance contracts tied to the country’s debt, Bloomberg News reported. The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee (CDDC) made the decision at a meeting held on Monday, according to a notice on the panel’s website on Friday. Ghana skipped payment of interests on Jan. 18 of a $1 billion eurobond maturing in 2026.

Ghana’s eurobonds sank to the lowest level in nearly three months after the country missed a self-imposed deadline to restructure its bilateral debt and S&P Global Ratings warned that bondholders face larger losses than anticipated, Bloomberg News reported. Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta wanted to reach a restructuring agreement with bilateral creditors by the end of February to help qualify for a $3 billion International Monetary Fund program. So far, Ghana has only partially completed the domestic-debt part of the exchange plan.

Ghana plans to convert an estimated 40 billion cedis ($3.3 billion) of loans owed to its central bank into bonds, making it the single biggest holder of domestic government securities and exposing it to an ongoing debt restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. The bonds, due to be issued by the finance ministry, will also cover interest owed to the Bank of Ghana, said the people, who asked not to be named because they’re not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Even as Ghana takes its third big step to extricate itself from debt distress, bond investors face a new complication: political uncertainty, according to a Bloomberg News commentary. The West African nation’s government reiterated it has sought relief from bilateral lenders including the Paris Club and China under the Group-of-20 Common Framework. The move follows an offer to local-currency bondholders for a debt swap with coupon reductions and a unilateral move to suspend payments on external debt.

Ghana was cut to default by S&P Global Ratings after the government suspended debt payments, a move that complicates the planned debt restructuring meant to unlock a bailout by the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. The West African nation, which has $13 billion of foreign bonds, was downgraded to selective default from CC due to the moratorium on debt payments, the credit assessor said in a Tuesday statement.

Ghana on Monday suspended payments on most of its external debt, effectively defaulting as the country struggles to plug its cavernous balance of payments deficit, Reuters reported. Its finance ministry said it will not service debts including its Eurobonds, commercial loans and most bilateral loans, calling the decision an "interim emergency measure", while some bondholders criticised a lack of clarity in the decision. The government "stands ready to engage in discussions with all of its external creditors to make Ghana's debt sustainable", the finance ministry said.

Ghana will launch a domestic debt exchange on Monday, its Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said, expressing confidence that the move would help restore macroeconomic stability and end the West African country's worst economic crisis in a generation, Reuters reported. Ofori-Atta said in a video address on Sunday that Ghana's government had finished its debt sustainability analysis, but he did not provide any information on plans for foreign debt that are anxiously awaited by international creditors.

Ghana will ask holders of its international bonds to accept losses of as much as 30% on the principal and forgo some interest payments as it hammers out a debt-sustainability plan to qualify for a loan from the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. The West African country will also ask holders of domestic bonds to forfeit some interest payments, Deputy Minister of Finance John Kumah told Accra-based Joy FM radio. He confirmed the planned restructuring in an interview with Bloomberg. “These are proposals,” Kumah said by phone on Thursday.