© Reuters.
By Christian Akorlie and Cooper Inveen
ACCRA (Reuters) – Germany’s finance minister singled out China during a visit to Ghana on Friday when he called on countries that have lent to the embattled West African nation to quickly form a creditors’ committee to help it restructure its debt .
“I would like to call on all creditors to join the efforts as quickly as possible,” Christian Lindner told a news conference with his Ghanaian counterpart, Ken Ofori-Atta.
“And to be honest, I remind China of its responsibilities as a very important bilateral creditor of Ghana,” he said, adding that he had done so “at the international level” at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in October 2022.
Ghana, which is struggling with its worst economic crisis in a generation, secured a staff-level deal with the IMF in December for a $3bn loan, but approval of the money is contingent on it restructuring its $467.4bn debt. of cedis ($39 billion).
In January, Reuters exclusively reported that Ghana had requested a bilateral debt restructuring under the Common Framework, a platform established by the Group of 20 major economies during the COVID-19 pandemic to bring China and other newer creditor nations into existing debt relief processes.
Western leaders have repeatedly criticized China for delaying debt restructurings for developing countries, which he questions.
“Germany is being a real partner” in helping Ghana through the debt restructuring process in “an accelerated manner,” Ofori-Atta told reporters.
Ghana, rich in gold, cocoa and oil, owed about $13 billion in Eurobonds and $4 billion in bilateral loans as of September 2022, $1.7 billion of which is owed to China, according to the International Institute of Finance.
“Ghana needs to return to the international financial markets as quickly as possible. Ghana must maintain its credibility,” Lindner said.
The German finance minister added that Ghana planned to ask the European Union to contribute to a financial stability fund designed to support banks as they reduce national government bonds.
($1 = 12.0000 Ghana cedi)
