Ghana deal with bondholders 'a matter of time', says IMF official

"It's a matter of time rather than something pretty fundamental blocking it." Earlier this week, Ghana's government said it had not been able to reach a workable restructuring agreement with two groups of holders of about $13 billion in overseas bonds and that talks would continue until it finds a deal consistent with the IMF's debt sustainability targets.

Ghana agreeing a restructuring with holders of its international bonds is "a matter of time" rather than there being insurmountable hurdles, an IMF official said, after the fund said a previous proposed deal would not fit its parameters.

"It depends on ... how much time and intensity the government is going to be able to devote to (negotiations) in the coming weeks," African Department director Abebe Selassie said in an interview at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings in Washington. "It's a matter of time rather than something pretty fundamental blocking it."

Earlier this week, Ghana's government said it had not been able to reach a workable restructuring agreement with two groups of holders of about $13 billion in overseas bonds and that talks would continue until it finds a deal consistent with the IMF's debt sustainability targets. The IMF said last week that a new staff-level agreement on the second review of its $3 billion loan programme with Ghana would unlock a $360 million tranche, once the country and its official bilateral creditors reach a Memorandum of Understanding consistent with the programme.

Selassie repeated the fund's position that a bondholder deal was not also necessary for the second review to be approved by its board. "What we want to see is that the government is having discussions. It (no deal) won't stand in our way to go to the board," he said.

The cocoa-, gold- and oil-producing country turned to the IMF for financial support in 2022, when debt costs and spiralling inflation led it to default at the end of the year on most of its $30 billion of external debt. "Debt restructurings are always difficult, even in countries where you don't have this very complex creditor mix," Selassie said.

"But even with that I want to be very clear: by historical standards, things are moving very quickly (for Ghana). But that's not sufficient, we want to see deals happening a lot quicker."

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