Ghanas Official Creditors To Convene For Debt Restructuring Talks On Jan 8

Ghana's official creditors are set to meet on Monday, January 8, to discuss the restructuring of approximately $5.4 billion in loans, according to Reuters.

This marks a crucial step toward securing the next tranche of funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to three sources informed Reuters.

The Official Creditor Committee (OCC), co-chaired by the governments of China and France, who are among the bilateral lenders, holds around 25% of Ghana's $20 billion external debt earmarked for restructuring.

The upcoming meeting is expected to focus on reaching an agreement regarding a "cut-off date," determining the point after which new loans from bilateral creditors will not undergo restructuring, sources familiar with the matter revealed.

This specific date has become a stumbling block in Ghana's debt restructuring process.

Some creditors advocate for December 31, 2022, as the cut-off date, citing Ghana's default earlier that month, while others support March 24, 2020, the date when the Group of 20 introduced the debt service suspension initiative (DSSI) to aid the world's poorest countries during the COVID crisis.