Accra, 3rd October, 2024 - Minister for Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has highlighted the country’s overwhelming success of more than 98 percent consent under the Eurobond debt exchange programme.
“We obtained more than 98 percent consent which is significantly higher than the 65 percent threshold from bondholders following the launch of the Exchange Offer and Consent Solicitation in September 2024”, he said.
Speaking at the Ministry’s instituted monthly economic update, the Minister disclosed that, “this impressive result surpasses international benchmarks and demonstrates the strong support of Ghana's bondholder community across Africa and in the international markets”.
It would be recalled that, Government commenced a comprehensive debt restructuring operation in December 2022 on both the domestic and external debt in a systematic approach.
The Minister indicated that after the successful completion of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) and agreement of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC), government initiated an exchange offer and consent solicitation process on 5th September 2024 with the aim to restructure US$13 billion outstanding Eurobond portfolio.
“As a result of this successful debt exchange, the country will exchange US$13 billion in Eurobonds for new bonds in the coming weeks” he revealed.
He noted that the agreement with the bondholders has impacted greatly on Ghana’s debt, a reduction of 37 percent in nominal value of Ghana’s debt, equivalent to USD5 billion as well as a debt service savings of USD4.3 billion during the IMF programme. Interest on bonded debt has also declined from average of 8percent to less than 5 percent.
Dr Amin Adam noted that with this significant achievement the country is poised for a brighter future enabling government to shift focus towards sustainable economic growth and development.
“This achievement is a testament to Ghana’s dedication to economic recovery and sets the stage for improved fiscal management and sustainable growth.”
The Eurobonds constitute a substantial portion of Ghana’s external debt, this milestone represents a pivotal step in the external debt restructuring efforts. More importantly, its successful completion will significantly contribute to restoring Ghana's debt sustainability. END