Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, will travel to the People’s Republic of China in the coming days to seek debt cancellation from Beijing.
The government has begun formal talks with Ghana’s external debt masters in order to seek debt relief as part of a slew of measures to save the economy.
Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, will travel to the People’s Republic of China in the coming days to request debt cancellation from Beijing.
The government has begun formal talks with Ghana’s external debt masters in order to seek debt relief as part of a slew of measures to save the economy.
Negotiations with China are critical, according to Ken Ofori-Atta, because China holds the majority of Ghana’s external bonds. He is expected to lead a high-level delegation to China to seek debt forgiveness.
“The big elephant in the room is China, we will be visiting China by the end of the week to really discuss how they come into the envelope as quickly as possible. So we are looking at that support from them. China represents about a third of the $5.7 billion loan and so it is important that we engage them,” he said.
Ghana is also in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a USD3 billion bailout to help the government balance the economy and gain access to the bond market.
In the midst of a global economic recession scare this year, the IMF announced last month that it is working on a debt cancellation program for Ghana and other countries.