Ghana To Request Debt Relief Under G20 Common Framework | Economy

Ghana's finance ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

However, speaking on the day when the IMF deal was announced, Ghana's finance minister said the Common Framework was "plagued with difficulties" and that the government would need guarantees of speed to sign up to it, in order not to "derail momentum".

Only poorer nations are eligible to request a Common Framework treatment, which will lead to an official creditor committee being agreed and negotiations that are supported by the IMF and the World Bank.

Alternatively, a country aiming to restructure can do so by negotiating individually with each creditor.

Ghana's public debt was 467.4 billion cedis ($47.7 billion) in September 2022, of which about $4 billion was bilateral, according to the Institute of International Finance. Of that, $1.9 billion was held by Paris Club countries and $1.7 billion by China.

Some holders of Ghana's $13 billion overseas sovereign dollar bonds had previously said they would prefer the country not to go through what they viewed as a drawn-out and ineffective process.