Ken Ofori-Atta
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is leading a delegation to China over Ghana’s debt cancellation.
Ghana has already initiated negotiation with the Chinese government over Ghana’s debt because China holds the majority of the external bonds of the country.
The Finance Minister who disclosed this when speaking with the media said “The big elephant in the room is China, we will be visiting China by the end of the week to really discuss how they come into the envelope as quickly as possible. So we are looking at that support from them. China represents about a third of the $5.7 billion loan and so it is important that we engage them.”
This comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mentioned in January this year that it is working towards a debt cancellation programme for Ghana and other countries amid a global economic recession scare this year.
The move, Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF Managing Director, said was to avert any “bad surprise” on the global economy, out of which 25 percent had its trade in emerging markets territories.
“We’re working hard to press for debt resolution for these countries, and we’ve engaged with the traditional creditors, the Paris Club, the non-traditional creditors, China, India, and Saudi Arabia. Our call is very simple: Urgently we have to act,” she said in an interview.
By Vincent Kubi