Ofori-Atta’s exit won’t affect debt restructuring negotiations – Ameteye Anim

Daniel Ameteye Anim, an economist has said the exit of Ken Ofori-Atta from the Finance Ministry will not affect or delay the current negotiations with the country’s multilateral creditors on debt restructuring.

President Nana Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, appointed the MP for Karaga Mohammed Amin Adam as the new Minister for Finance to replace Ken Ofori-Atta.

International investors greeted the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta with caution on Wednesday, as they braced for the prospect of more delays to the restructuring of the country’s overseas debt ahead of the country’s elections in December.

But speaking with asaaseradio.com, Ameteye Anim said, “Ken Ofori-Atta’s exit [from the government] will not affect negotiations with multilateral partners because this is not a private thing that the minister is handling.”

He said, “This is an institution that he was in charge as a finance minister so wherever he has gotten to in terms of negotiations and arrangements [ on debt restructuring] all that ought to been done is to walk the incoming minister through the process and the new minister can then meet the team that is conducting the negotiations [on debt restructuring] with the multilateral creditors.”

“It will be fatal on our part if a minister leaves office and the country cannot continue with transactions that are of benefit to the state then it will be a very big failure in terms of governance and leadership.”

“So, my view is that his [Ofori-Atta’s] exit will not affect any arrangement that we are having with our multilateral creditors,” he added.

Ghana is seeking relief on some US$13 billion owed to private creditors holding eurobonds. Ofori-Atta had overseen the debt restructuring efforts after the West African gold, oil and cocoa producer defaulted on much of its external debt in December 2022 as debt servicing costs and inflation soared.

Ghana’s economy has started to recover since the government secured a US$3 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year.

It had been ready to move forward with its debt restructuring after securing a deal to rework US$5.4 billion of debt in January with official creditors, such as China and France.

Government officials met with bondholders last month and their advisers, as the gold and cocoa producer hoped to get a deal completed by mid-February with a simple debt restructuring to exchange old bonds for new notes.