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. Meanwhile, S&P said private creditors may have to write off as much as 50% of their debt holdings — far higher than the 30% haircut the government initially suggested. The country’s 2032 dollar bonds slumped to 36.69 cents on the dollar on Wednesday, the least since Jan. 5. They traded near 39 cents as recently as two weeks ago. The missed deadline doesn’t automatically derail the restructuring talks. Rather, it highlights the difficulties Ghana faces as it tries to reduce its debt load and contend with critics ranging from international bondholders to local trade unions.
Read more.
Location