Germany is ready to engage other development partners yet to sign on to the Creditors Committee under Ghana’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), the German Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Ms Svenja Schulze, has said.
To bring the country on the path of debt sustainability, the government is pursuing a DDEP to restructure on both domestic and external debt.
In the domestic debt, Ghana is seeking to restructure GH¢137 billion of its domestic debt.
She made the pledge in Accra yesterday in a statement issued with the Finance Ministry after she held bilateral meeting with the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
The statement said the meeting which was to advance Ghana-German relations, discussed, among other things, the role KfW can play to support the Government of Ghana after the debt restructuring.
Ms Schulze said Germany during the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting scheduled to take place in end February, would implore other creditors of Ghana to join the Creditors Committee.
That, she said, was necessary to bring the country on the path of debt sustainability and restore macroeconomic stability.
Ms Schulze said Germany would support the country to establish the Ghana Financial Stability Fund as part of the Debt Exchange Programme.
“KfW will continue to support the Development Bank Ghana, to be an advocate for setting up a Creditors Committee,” the German Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, said.
Mr Ofori-Atta told the German delegation that the Government of Ghana (GoG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team had successfully reached Staff-Level Agreement on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility of about US$3 billion in December 2022.
He further indicated that the parties had agreed on structural reform benchmarks, prior actions, performance criteria on key macro-fiscal indicators and the finalisation of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP).
“In addition, the debt exchange programme has to be successful before Ghana’s programme can be considered at the IMF Executive Board,” Mr Ofori-Atta, adding that the government was hopeful that it would get an IMF Board approval in March or early April.
Mr Ofori-Atta hinted that the appointment of a new Minister of State was strategic as he had enough background in Energy related matters, adding that he was optimistic his coming on board would provide government with viable opportunities in the Energy sector.
The German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development was joined by the following, Ambassador Daniel Krull, German Ambassador to Ghana; Ms Birgit Pickel, Director, Africa and Ghana, Mr Dirk Meyer, Director, Economic Cooperation and private sector, supply chains, working conditions and Ms Franziska Jabens, Head of Cooperation, German Embassy, Accra.
Participants from the Ghana side were Deputy Minister for Finance; Abena Osei-Asare (MP), the Chief Director; Dr Patrick Nomo and Ms Yvonne Quansah; Director for External Resource Mobilisation and Economic Relations Division.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
