Commercial Creditors and Ghana eye restructuring deal by end of May

Ghana and creditors expect to reach an agreement in principle to restructure overseas bonds as soon as the end of May, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

A committee of bondholders and representatives for the government are waiting for the International Monetary Fund to approve an updated economic review, which is likely to allow a deal to move forward, said the people, who requested anonymity because the talks are private. The two sides are trying to rework about $13 billion of Eurobonds, one of the final steps in the nation’s restructuring process.

Staff from the Fund carried out a review after traveling to Ghana this month. At the conclusion of the trip, the IMF said economic growth was higher than initially expected and the country’s fiscal and external positions had improved significantly.

Representatives for the IMF and Ghana’s Finance Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Bonds jump

Ghana’s dollar bonds were among the biggest gainers in emerging markets on Friday, with notes due in 2029 rising 0.9 cent to about 50.3 cents on the dollar, according to indicative pricing compiled by Bloomberg.

On Monday, they had slid after Ghana Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam said an initial agreement reached with bondholders had “slightly” breached the Fund’s debt sustainability parameters. However, a similar deal is expected to fit when those parameters are changed following the updated IMF review.

Members of the bondholder committee have included Abrdn, Amundi (UK) Limited, BlackRock, Greylock Capital Management and Ninety One.

Fund officials said Friday that they will make a $360 million disbursement under the country’s extended credit facility, even as the debt restructuring is ongoing. Earlier, Reuters reported IMF African Department director Abebe Selassie as saying an agreement with creditors to restructure the nation’s debt was “a matter of time.”