In July 2022, the government approached the IMF for a 3-year arrangement backed by USD 3 billion under the existing extended credit facility (the ECF Arrangement). The IMF approved the request in May 2023. The key policies under the ECF Arrangement (which aims to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability) include:

• fiscal consolidation supported by structural reforms in respect of tax policy, revenue administration, and public financial management and addressing weaknesses in the energy and cocoa sectors

• tight monetary and flexible exchange rate policies to bring inflation back to single digits and rebuild international reserves

• preserving financial stability

• reforms to encourage private investment and growth (including by improving governance, transparency and public sector efficiency)

​

According to the IMF, Ghana’s balance-of-payments gap for 2023 to 2026 is about USD 14 billion. The gap is expected to be financed as follows:

On domestic debt, the government launched a domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP) in early December 2022 asking holders of its debt instruments (issued locally but excluding treasury bills), debt instruments issued by ESLA Plc and Daakye Trust Plc, cocoa bills and Bank of Ghana non-marketable instruments, to swap them for lower-coupon and longer maturity bonds. The DDEP was completed in 2023.

On external debt, the government declared a moratorium on its international debt and further technically defaulted in February 2023. Since then, the government has undertaken the following:

• G20 common framework debt treatment – in June 2024, Ghana and its creditors in the G20 countries and the Paris Club (under the G20 common framework for debt treatment) formalised the terms of a debt treatment in a memorandum of understanding. The debt treatment provides a full debt service relief (over the ECF Arrangement period) from all bilateral claims committed and disbursed before December 2022. The rescheduled debt service will be capitalised and accrue additional interest rate until repayment in years 16 and 17 after the original due date. The terms of the debt treatment will be implemented through bilateral agreements expected to be signed by June 2025 with each creditor;

• Eurobond debt restructuring – Ghana completed the restructuring of USD 13 billion Eurobonds in October 2024. Most bondholders received new bonds maturing in 2029 and 2035, with nominal haircut and increased coupon rate. Others opted for bonds maturing in 2037, with no haircut but a lower coupon rate. All bondholders received a downpayment bond maturing in 2026 and a post-default interest bond maturing in 2030; and

• Other commercial creditor debt restructuring – the government is negotiating a debt restructuring agreement with its residual external commercial creditors.

Debt Restructuring

​