A group of Ghana’s foreign bondholders has hired advisers ahead of prospective debt talks with the government over a bailout the country hopes to get from the International Monetary Fund, according to people familiar with the matter, WSJ Pro reported. Holders of some of Ghana’s $14 billion in foreign-currency bonds have hired Rothschild & Co. as a financial adviser and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as legal counsel.
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Ghana's finance ministry has formed a five-member committee with the Bank of Ghana to lead discussions with the financial services industry concerning an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, it said in a statement on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The goal of the committee is to "ensure orderliness and confidence in the government's ongoing negotiations with the IMF," the statement said. A similar engagement will be undertaken with external bondholders, it added.
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The International Monetary Fund confirmed on Sunday that a staff team will visit Ghana this week to continue discussions with the authorities on policies and reforms that could be supported by an IMF lending arrangement, Reuters reported. Ghana turned to the IMF for help in July as its balance-of-payments deteriorated and hundreds took to the streets to protest against economic hardship. An IMF staff team briefly visited the country two weeks later. Reuters' reported last week that an IMF team would visit Ghana this week.
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Ghana's central bank on Wednesday delivered its biggest rate hike ever, a 300 basis point increase to 22%, at an emergency meeting to address the economy's rapid deterioration amid crippling inflation, Reuters reported. The hike comes just three weeks after it kept its monetary policy rate unchanged at 19% and said it was pausing to observe the impact of a series of record-breaking hikes. It had been due to meet again in late September, but on Monday it said an emergency meeting was needed.
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Ghana slashed its plan to borrow as much as $750 million from international banks because of surging borrowing costs, according to a finance ministry official with knowledge of the matter, and will also tap the International Monetary Fund to bolster its finances, Bloomberg News reported. The West African nation will borrow $250 million from banks at an interest rate of about 8.4% to fund budget needs such as roads, railways, energy and health.
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Ghana reopened its land and sea borders on Monday after a two-year closure as it lifted some coronavirus restrictions in an attempt to bolster a flagging economy, AFP reported. President Nana Akufo-Addo also announced in a televised address on Sunday night that the wearing of masks in the West African country is no longer mandatory as active Covid-19 cases drop below 100. Afuko-Addo said outdoor functions can resume at full capacity as long as all persons are fully vaccinated. From Monday, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer have to take Covid tests to enter the country.
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Ghana's central bank announced its biggest ever interest rate hike on Monday as it seeks to slow rampant inflation that threatens to create a debt crisis in one of West Africa's largest economies, Reuters reported. The Bank of Ghana raised its main lending rate by 250 basis points to 17%, signaling an aggressive stance against the rocketing price of goods from flour to sugar to fuel, and against a depreciating local currency that has dented investor confidence.
Ghana’s inflation rate jumped to the highest level in almost five years in December, underscoring the dilemma the central bank faces in trying to balance its efforts to curb price growth and boost the economy, Bloomberg News reported. Annual inflation accelerated to 12.6% from 12.2% in November, Government Statistician Samuel Kobina Annim told reporters Wednesday in Accra, the capital. That’s the highest rate since April 2017, exceeding the finance ministry’s forecast of 8% and topping the median estimate of 12.5% projected by six economists in a Bloomberg survey.
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Ghanaians kicked off a series of planned protests aimed at pressuring President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration to do more to create jobs for the youth, improve health-care and education standards, and bring down living costs, Bloomberg News reported. The demonstrations are being organized under the social media banner #FixTheCountry and were joined by thousands of people wearing masks and carrying placards, who marched in the streets of Accra, the capital, on Wednesday, a public holiday in the West African nation.
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Mexico sold its own ESG bond in early July linked to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, which include gender equality, zero hunger and clean water initiatives, Bloomberg reported. Slovenia, meantime, wowed investors in late June with a sustainability note for either green or social spending, which was more than 10 times oversubscribed. “Sovereigns are looking to undertake more social bonds in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Morgan Stanley strategists wrote last month.