GHANA’S finance ministry said on Thursday that a Chinese delegation had ended a three-day visit to discuss Ghana’s request for the restructuring of the $1.9bn debt it owes China.
The ministry said in a statement that the Chinese delegation came to Accra ahead of an upcoming Ghanaian mission to China and that discussions had been ‘highly cordial and fruitful, according to a Reuters report.
Ghana, which is struggling with its worst economic crisis in a generation, secured a staff-level agreement with the IMF in December for a $3bn loan, but the money’s approval is contingent on it restructuring its debt of 575.7bn cedis ($46.06bn).
External debt was $29.2bn at the end of November 2022, according to central bank data.
China’s official bilateral loans involving Ghana account for less than 5 percent of the West African country’s total debt, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Germany’s finance minister recently singled out China during a visit to Ghana, as he called on countries that have lent to the struggling nation to form a creditor committee quickly to help it restructure its debt.