The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has reaffirmed the government’s plan to return to the capital market in the shortest possible time to raise funds.
According to him, a discussion between some African countries including Ghana and the G7 countries at the ongoing IMF World Bank Annual Meetings has shown commitment on the part of the world’s largest economies to push for a smooth implementation of the G20 Common Framework which will provide some debt relief for debt distressed economies.
“They truly see that these are exogenous factors and even their own economies are under serious stress. And they are finding ways they can add to the capital needs to make sure things do not deteriorate even more,” Ken Ofori-Atta told journalists.
This is the first time the G7 was meeting with African Finance Ministers to deliberate on the global crises.
Ofori-Atta added that “the empathy shown by the G7 was clear, and therefore, their interest in encouraging the World Bank to find more resources so that they stabilise where things are going,”
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed debt levels to new heights. The pandemic added to spending needs while revenues fall due to lower growth and trade, together raising debt burdens.
As of 8 March 2021, more than 60% of eligible countries had made requests for debt service suspension. In 2020, 43 countries are estimated to have benefited from US$5.7 billion in debt service suspension.
On 7 April 2021, G20 bilateral official creditors agreed to a final extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) by six months through the end of December 2021.
The Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond is an agreement between the G20 and Paris Club countries to coordinate and cooperate on debt treatments for up to 73 low-income countries that are eligible for the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).
The ministers were joined by a select group of African countries including Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia.
Nana Oye Ankrah
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