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☆ Ghana Ex-Trade Minister Quits Ruling Party to Run for President
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Sept. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

Alan Kyeremanten, who has served twice as trade minister for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), made the announcement at a briefing and said his contributions were not appreciated. "The (NPP) party has been hijacked by a selected group of party leaders and elders," he said. Gold-, oil- and cocoa-producing Ghana's worst economic crisis in a generation was brought on by spiralling public debt. The NPP has yet to name its candidate to succeed President Nana Afuko-Addo, who will step down after serving two terms. Kyeremanten, 67, served as Akufo-Addo's trade and industry minister during both of his terms.

Persons: Alan Kyeremanten, Nana Afuko, Kyeremanten, Mahamudu Bawumia, Maxwell Akalaare, Sofia Christensen, Grant McCool Organizations: New Patriotic Party, NPP, International Monetary Fund, National Democratic Congress Locations: ACCRA, Accra, Ghana

Cocoa beans are pictured next to a warehouse at the village of Atroni, near Sunyani, Ghana April 11, 2019. A weakened cedi currency and a lower farmgate cocoa price in Ghana in the 2022/2023 season, compared with neighbouring Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, saw beans smuggled to there and to Togo. Fiifi Boafo, head of public affairs at regulator COCOBOD regulator told Reuters on Saturday that Ghana is targeting an output of 820,000 metric tons for the 2023/2024 season after the increased farmgate price. Boafo added that Ghana is planning to borrow $1.2 billion for its annual cocoa purchases. Cameroon, another top West African cocoa producer, and the world's fourth biggest, on Thursday raised its farmgate cocoa price by 25% to around 1,500 ($2.45) CFA franc per kg for the 2023/2024 season.

Persons: Ange Aboa, Nana Akufo, Addo, Ghana cedi, , Leticia Adu Yankey, Fiifi Boafo, Maxwell Adombila, Bate Felix, Clelia Oziel, Alexander Smith Organizations: REUTERS, Ghana cedi, Ghana Civil Society Cocoa, Reuters, CFA, Central African CFA, Thomson Locations: Atroni, Sunyani, Ghana, Akufo, West Africa, London, Ivory Coast, Togo, Cameroon

[1/3] ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defense staff meet on the deployment of its standby force in the Republic of Niger, in Accra, Ghana. Niger military officers deposed President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have defied calls from the United Nations, ECOWAS and Western powers to reinstate him, prompting West African heads of state to order the standby force to be assembled. "Let no one be in doubt that if everything else fails, the valiant forces of West Africa...are ready to answer to the call of duty," ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah said. Musah accused the Niger coup leaders of "playing cat-and-mouse" with ECOWAS by refusing to meet with its envoys and seeking justifications for their takeover of power. He said most of the bloc's 15 member states were prepared to participate in the standby force that could intervene in Niger.

Persons: Francis Kokoroko, Mohamed Bazoum, Security Abdel, Fatau Musah, Russia's Wagner, I'm, Omar Yaye, Musah, Bazoum, Anait Miridzhanian, Edward McAllister, Estelle Shirbon, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Chiefs, Defense, REUTERS, West, ECOWAS, United Nations, Political Affairs, Peace, Security, European Union, Media, Thomson Locations: Republic of Niger, Accra, Ghana, Niger, Niamey, ACCRA, NIAMEY, West Africa, Gambia, Liberia, Sahel, Mali, Niger's, France, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cape Verde

☆ Ghana sanitation minister resigns over alleged stashed cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ACCRA, July 22 (Reuters) - Ghana's sanitation minister resigned on Saturday over reports staff found and stole stashes of local and foreign money from her home, she said in a letter to the president in which she denied any wrongdoing. Cecilia Abena Dapaah made headlines on Friday after two former household staff appeared in court accused of stealing cash and personal belongings from the minister and her husband between July and October 2022. Prosecutors told the court that the accused bought houses and a vehicle with the stolen money and gave some of it to relatives. Dapaah was appointed minister of sanitation and water resources when Akufo-Addo took power in 2017 and retained when he was re-elected in 2021. Reporting by Christian Akorlie and Maxwell Akalaare Adombila Editing by Sofia Christensen and Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Cecilia Abena Dapaah, Nana Akufo, ” Dapaah, Dapaah's, Dapaah, Addo, Christian Akorlie, Maxwell Akalaare, Sofia Christensen, Nick Macfie Organizations: Prosecutors, Thomson Locations: ACCRA

☆ Ghana sees agreement with bilateral creditors in coming weeks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Ofori-Atta said the West African nation aimed to reach agreement with bilateral creditors in coming weeks, adding that it was in the process of getting a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the creditors. The total external debt stock was about $30 billion. "We've successfully worked with the Paris Club and other creditors to determine the parameters for official debt restructuring under the G20 common framework for debt treatment," Ofori-Atta told journalists in Accra on Sunday. "In the coming weeks, we will seek to complete the MoU on terms with bilateral debt treatment," he added. Ofori-Atta said Ghana will continue discussions with private creditors, Eurobond investors on external debt to reach agreement with private creditors in the shortest possible time.

Persons: Ken Ofori, Atta, We've, Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Bate Felix, Frances Kerry, David Evans Organizations: International Monetary Fund, IMF, Paris Club, Thomson Locations: ACCRA, Ghana, West, China, Accra

ACCRA/LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Ghana has sent a debt restructuring proposal to its official creditors, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the West African country battles to escape its worst economic crisis in a generation. Ghana intends to finish restructuring its domestic debt before turning to negotiations with its official, bilateral creditors and international bondholders, a government official said. The total external debt stock was about $30 billion. Ghana completed a domestic debt exchange with 65% of holders of local bonds in February and is also seeking relief on the bulk of the remainder of its domestic debt, including deals with pension funds, labour unions and independent power producers. It is restructuring its debt under the Common Framework process, set up by the G20 in 2020 to bring China and other newer creditor nations into joint sovereign debt restructuring negotiations, for its external debt rework.

Persons: Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Rachel Savage, Karin Strohecker, Nick Macfie Organizations: International Monetary Fund, Paris Club, Thomson Locations: ACCRA, LONDON, Ghana, West, China, Rosario

ACCRA, June 1 (Reuters) - Ghanaian labour unions have asked the government for time to assess a proposal presented on Thursday to restructure pension funds worth around 30 billion Ghanaian cedis ($2.7 billion). The majority of eligible holders of Ghana's local bonds participated in a domestic debt exchange in February. The pension funds were exempted after unions threatened to strike, but have now been offered their own deal. Thomas Kwesi Esso, executive secretary of the lobby group for the pension funds, told Reuters that the offer was an improvement and addresses liquidity concerns with the old bonds. Editing by Alessandra Prentice, Rachel Savage and Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Abraham Koomson, ”, Thomas Kwesi, ” Anthony Yaw Baah, Alessandra Prentice, Rachel Savage, Leslie Adler Organizations: International Monetary Fund, Finance Ministry, Reuters, International Monetary, Thomson Locations: ACCRA

JOHANNESBURG, May 18 (Reuters) - Ghana is targeting $10.5 billion of external debt service relief from 2023-2026, the IMF said, giving an early indication of how large a hit investors might face in an impending debt overhaul. "Our back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that this translates to a 40%-50% haircut on external debt, if there is not further restructuring of domestic debt," Bojosi Morule, an economist at Goldman Sachs, said in emailed reaction to the DSA. Ghana's already strained finances buckled under the fallout of COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and it is now seeking to restructure $20 billion of its roughly $30 billion external debt, including about $13 billion of Eurobonds, under the Group of 20's Common Framework platform. Earlier this year it completed a domestic debt exchange. Other risks include Ghana not regaining market access to issue debt and the domestic debt exchange posing dangers to financial sector stability, the IMF said.

This paved the way for a sign-off on the IMF loan, which was agreed at staff level in December. Some $5.4 billion of debt to official creditors has been earmarked for restructuring, according to government data, as well as $14.6 billion of debt to private overseas creditors. Zambia, the first African country to default in the COVID-19 era, secured an IMF loan in September 2022 and still has not agreed debt restructuring terms with creditors. Analysts expect Ghana's process to be faster and smoother than Zambia's since China holds a smaller proportion of Ghana's debt. China is Zambia's largest bilateral creditor and has been accused of delaying that country's debt restructuring, which it denies.

ACCRA, May 14 (Reuters) - Ghana expects the International Monetary Fund to approve a first loan tranche of $600 million as soon as Wednesday, paving the way for disbursement within a week, Minister of State in the Finance Ministry Mohammed Amin Adam told Reuters on Sunday. Ghana is seeking $3 billion from the Fund to shore up its battered economy. On Friday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Ghana's official creditors had provided the necessary financing assurances for the IMF Executive Board to look at signing off on the loan. Adam said he expected negotiations with both sets of creditors to go well once the IMF signs off on the loan. Adam said the government was also in talks with the African Development Bank for over $100 million for the stability fund.

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