The Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta has held bilateral meetings with a German delegation led by Ms. Svenja Schulze, the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The meeting, which was to deepen Ghana-German relations, created opportunity for the two countries to deliberate on the role of the KfW Development Bank in supporting Ghana in its post debt restructuring to ensure economic stability and sustainable growth.
The two countries also discussed structural changes in the energy sector and ways to make it more sustainable to support the economy, as well as improve regional security to expand and build up cross-border trade.
Mr. Ofori-Atta made it known to the visiting Minister that Ghana had successfully reached the Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The SLA is on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about $3 billion in December 2022.
The finance minister communicated to Ms. Svenja Schulze that majority of the parties and association have agreed on structural reform benchmarks, prior actions, performance criteria on key macro-fiscal indicators, and the finalization of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP).
“The success of the country’s debt restructuring programme, which would require external support from countries like Germany is critical for Ghana’s programme to be considered at the IMF Executive Board.”
Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta
Mr. Ken Ofori Atta further indicated that all prior actions have been satisfied, and the government was hopeful that it would get an IMF Board approval in March or early April.
The KfW team said they were ready to partner with the Development Bank of Ghana and to be an advocate for setting up a creditors committee and the Ghana Stabilization Fund.
Ms. Svenja Schulze assured the Minister for Finance that Germany was ready to engage other Development partners yet to sign on to the creditors committee during the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting scheduled to take place by the end of February.
Ambassador Daniel Krull, German Ambassador to Ghana joined the Minister for the meeting.
German Finance Minister Calls On G20 To Form Creditor Committee On Ghana’s Debts
Meanwhile, it can be recalled that the German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner called for a quick formation of a creditors committee under the common framework to deal with Ghana’s debt restructuring efforts.
Mr. Lindner said it was important for Ghana to keep its credibility and turn around its economy quickly to be able to take advantage of the financial markets.
The German Finance Minister noted that Germany was aware of Ghana’s challenges and had “a vital interest in the success of the Ghanaian economy and wants to see West Africa as a whole stay stable.”
He said Germany, which was Ghana’s second largest bilateral creditor, was ready to support Ghana’s effort to bounce back economically.
Mr. Christian Lindner commended the government for its efforts to restructure public or sovereign debt and for trying to support private sector banks to preserve their capital and their capability to finance further growth.
Read also: Ghana’s External Debt: A Huge Hurdle To Cross, Ghana Owes External Creditors About $30 billion
