Private foreign lenders might have to agree with less profitable terms compared to bilateral creditors if the country's debt restructuring request is met, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta says.
“We hope our commercial creditors will understand our desire to negotiate over bilateral creditors softer terms than we anticipate to propose to them, as a speedy process with the bilateral creditors is needed to pave the way for the discussion with private creditors,” Ofori-Atta told the parliament.
Ofori-Atta's statement comes as Ghana is expiring a grace period for a missed payment which was due January 18.
At the same time, Accra aims to win concessions from lenders in order to get a $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund by March.
The West African nation has requested an expedited review of its debt workout under the G20 Common Framework, Ghana's finance minister said.
Ghana is going to begin "substantive" discussions with its foreign bondholders in the following weeks, he stated.
Along with Ghana, Zambia in southern Africa is also struggling to achieve its $13.04 billion external debt restructuring under the Common Framework.
However, Ghana is likely to have its debt restructured ahead of Zambia, as, according to Samantha Singh, a senior markets strategist at Rand Merchant Bank, "the bilateral component of Ghana's overall debt - especially the part of its debt owned by China - is not as large compared to countries seeking debt treatment under the framework."
While the outgoing chairman of the African Union, Macky Sall, and Ghana's President, Nana Akufo-Addo, have called on African nations not to plunge into the debt pit dug by the West, 2023 is going to have more countries trying to achieve their external debt restructuring under the Common Framework.