General News of Monday, 16 October 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

China, France have given us assurances on MoU for Debt Restructuring – Ofori-Atta

Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister

Ken Ofori-Atta has revealed that, the government of Ghana has been able to secure assurances from Ghana’s external creditors; China and France on the Memorandum of Outstanding (MoU) for restructuring of the country’s external bilateral debts.

“We have met the Central Bank Governor of China and we don’t perceive any opposition or reluctance in participating positively when it comes to the Memorandum of Understanding on restructuring of our external bilateral debts,” the finance minister said while interreacting with the media at the Annual International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting in Morocco.

According to citinewsroom.com, despite the assurances from external creditors, Ken Ofori-Atta is of the view that, African governments must compel the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to institute financing and government models to deliver transformative impact for all countries.

“We need to stretch the IMF to do more. The need is great. And at these Annual Meetings, the developing world is asking the international community to do all it can to advance a reform agenda that ensures institutions like the IMF have the requisite mandates, financing, and governance models to deliver transformative impact,” he explained.

The finance minister while interreacting with the media at the Annual International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting in Morocco also revealed that, the Chinese government has extended similar courtesy to Zambia, Suriname and Sri Lanka.

He added, “The Chinese government within the past months is close to reaching a similar deal with Zambia, Sri Lanka and Suriname, so following that trend, we expect some similar cooperation from them when it comes to Ghana”.

Ghana on October 6, 2023 reached a staff-level agreement in relation to the first programme review with the IMF.

This should pave the way for the IMF staff to forward Ghana’s report after the review to the board for approval and disbursement of the second tranche of $600 million under the IMF programme.

EAN/WA

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