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☆ Stonebwoy draws inspiration from Bob Marley at Tuff Gong Studios to unite the Black diaspora
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Lauren Lee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The session was the Ghanaian’s first visit to Bob Marley’s iconic Tuff Gong Studio. I feel like I’m surrounded by the spirits of those who built here.”“Once upon a time, Bob Marley was probably sitting in the same spot that I am sitting in,” he added. Bob Marley performs onstage during a concert in Stockholm, Sweden, in the late 1970s. Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global CitizenUniting the Black diaspora through musicFrom Afrobeats to reggae, Stonebwoy has worked with musicians including Rick Ross, Beanie Man, Shaggy, Keri Hilson, Russ, Davido, and Angelique Kidjo, shining brightest when mentoring emerging artists. Until then, he has his eyes set on making sure the sounds of the Black diaspora continue to dominate worldwide.

Persons: CNN —, Stonebwoy, Shaggy, Sean Paul, Wyclef Jean, Bob Marley, Yohan Marley, Bob Marley’s, ”, riffing, Livingstone Etse Satekla, Ghana's Stonebwoy, ” Stonebwoy, “, Stonebwoy’s, Jemal Countess, Rick Ross, Beanie, Keri Hilson, Russ, Davido, Angelique Kidjo, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Odumodublvck Organizations: CNN, Island Music Conference, Gong, Tuff Gong, Tuff Gong Studios, Global Citizen Festival, Getty, Global Citizen, BHIM, Burniton Music Locations: Ghanaian, Jamaica, Kingston, ”, Ghana, Africa, Caribbean, West African, Stockholm, Sweden, Hulton, Accra

☆ Money now, shares later: more IMF countries voice support for pragmatic IMF funding boost
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the extra resources were needed to ensure the IMF can respond to another large-scale crisis. But with anti-China sentiment running high in the U.S. Congress, any IMF funding increase that increases Beijing's influence would face stiff opposition. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen proposed the money now, shares later plan as a way to sidestep the China issue and speed resources to the IMF. A 50% quota increase would be equivalent to about $312 billion at current exchange rates.

Persons: Yuri Gripas, Fernando Haddad, Kristalina Georgieva, Janet Yellen, Ernest Addison, David Lawder, Alex Richardson, Andrea Ricci Organizations: Monetary Fund, REUTERS, Rights, U.S, Monetary, IMF, U.S . Congress, Treasury, International Monetary, Financial Committee, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Rights MARRAKECH, Morocco, France, Britain, Ghana, Switzerland, Finland, Belgium, China, Brazil, U.S, Algeria, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, Tunisia

☆ Developing countries facing a debt crunch
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

EGYPTNorth Africa's largest economy needs to repay some $100 billion of hard-currency debt over the next five years. Egypt has a $3 billion IMF programme and has devalued the pound by roughly 50% since February 2022. Its progress in restructuring both domestic debt and $30 billion in external debt has been fairly swift and it secured a $3 billion IMF bailout in May. The next tranche of a $2.9 billion IMF bailout package could be delayed over a potential government revenue shortfall. A repair plan finally appeared imminent after Zambia clinched a $6.3 billion debt rework deal with the Paris Club creditor nations and China, its other big bilateral lender, in June.

Persons: Moody's, William Ruto's, Kais Saied, Libby George, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: World Bank, African Development Bank, IMF, UAE, SRI, SRI LANKA Sri, European Union, Zambia, Paris Club, Sri, Thomson Locations: Marrakech, EGYPT, Cairo, Egypt, ETHIOPIA, Ethiopia, China, GHANA Ghana, Accra, KENYA, Kenya, LEBANON Lebanon, PAKISTAN Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, SRI LANKA, SRI LANKA Sri Lanka, TUNISIA, Tunisia, UKRAINE Ukraine, Ukraine, United States, ZAMBIA, Zambia

Production of the chocolate-making ingredient is expanding outside of the main growing area in West Africa as farmers in places such Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia see potential profit in the crop. The rally in prices to the highest level in nearly 50 years is boosting that trend, which could alleviate the current supply tightness in the global cocoa market. The country was once the second only to Ivory Coast in cocoa production, but a devastating fungus in the 1980's known as Witches' Broom sharply reduced production. "I believe that the new profile of cocoa production will be large-scale," said Moises Schmidt, one of the owners. "If you plant cocoa trees there (Amazon region), it is considered reforestation," said Douglas.

Persons: Schmidt Agricola, Moises Almeida Schmidt, Handout, Moises Schmidt, Jeroen Douglas, Douglas, Jose Garcia, IFAD's, Alvaro Lario, Marcelo Teixeira, Maytaal Angel, Simon Webb, Anna Driver Organizations: REUTERS, International Cocoa Organization, Reuters Graphics, Ivory, UN's, Fund for Agricultural Development, Thomson Locations: Bahia, Brazil, West Africa, Ecuador, Colombia, Africa, South America, Ivory, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Asia, United States, Europe, Guayaquil, Para, Netherlands, Medicilandia, New York, London

☆ 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

☆ Multi-day protests over economic crisis grip Ghana's capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Francis Kokoroko | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/9] Ghanaians gather for the third day of anti-government protests amid police arrests and obstruction in Accra, Ghana, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko Acquire Licensing RightsACCRA, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Ghanaian capital Accra on Saturday for a third day of anti-government protests linked to economic hardship that have led to dozens of arrests. The gold-, oil- and cocoa-producing nation has been battling its worst economic crisis in a generation brought on by spiralling public debt. Last year, protests over soaring prices and other economic challenges led to clashes with police. Economic growth is forecast to slow to 1.5% this year from 3.1% in 2022.

Persons: Francis Kokoroko, Romeo, Christian Akorlie, Maxwell, Alessandra Prentice, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Ghanaian, Police, International Monetary Fund, Thomson Locations: Accra, Ghana, Rights ACCRA

☆ Notable remarks on Ukraine at UN Security Council
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has his address to the United Nations Security Council laid out on the desk in front of him as he attends a ministerial level meeting of the Security Council on the crisis in Ukraine at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 20, 2023. U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN:"It's hard to imagine a country demonstrating more contempt for the United Nations and all that it stands for - this from a country with a permanent seat on this council. "The war is having an increasingly devastating toll on the people in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world. "The only pathway for a comprehensive peace ... is one that must be just and based on the charter of the United Nations, and international law." SWISS PRESIDENT ALAIN BERSET:"With Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, the (U.N.) Charter has been violated on a massive scale.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brendan McDermid, VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, BLINKEN, Putin, SERGEI LAVROV, GUILLERMO LASSO, NANA AKUFO, ALAIN BERSET, FUMIO, Gabriela Baczynska, Humeyra Pamuk, Don Durfee Organizations: United Nations Security Council, Security, REUTERS, UNITED NATIONS, Wednesday, Security Council, Russia, OF STATE, United Nations, UN, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, U.N, New York, Russia, Soviet Union, .

☆ West African militaries meet to finalise possible Niger intervention
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Military personnel gesture as the ECOWAS anthem is played during a meeting of the Committee of Chiefs of Defense staff on the deployment of the ECOWAS standby force in the Republic of Niger, in Accra, Ghana. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko Acquire Licensing RightsACCRA/NIAMEY, Aug 18 (Reuters) - West African army chiefs were due to hold a second and final day of talks on Friday in Ghana's capital Accra, where they have been hashing out the details of a possible military intervention in Niger if diplomacy fails to reverse a military coup. Military officers deposed Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have defied calls from the United Nations, the West African bloc ECOWAS and others to reinstate him, prompting regional powers to order a standby force to be assembled. He said most of the bloc's 15 member states were prepared to participate in the standby force excepting those also under military rule - Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea - and tiny Cape Verde. Any escalation would further destabilise West Africa's impoverished Sahel region, which is already battling a decade-old Islamist insurgency.

Persons: Francis Kokoroko, Mohamed Bazoum, Security Abdel, Fatau Musah, Alessandra Prentice, Philippa Fletcher Organizations: ECOWAS, Chiefs, Defense, REUTERS, Rights, United Nations, West African, Political Affairs, Peace, Security, Islamic, Thomson Locations: Republic of Niger, Accra, Ghana, Rights ACCRA, NIAMEY, Ghana's, Niger, West Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cape Verde, Sahel, al Qaeda

☆ Monaco sign Ghana defender Salisu from Southampton
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Soccer Football - Premier League - Southampton v Wolverhampton Wanderers - St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, Britain - February 11, 2023 Southampton's Mohammed Salisu in action with Wolverhampton Wanderers' Adama Traore REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File PhotoAug 1 (Reuters) - AS Monaco have signed Ghana defender Mohammed Salisu from English second-tier side Southampton on a five-year contract, both clubs said on Tuesday. Local media reported that the Ligue 1 side paid Saints about 15 million euros ($16.53 million) for the 24-year-old. Salisu joined Southampton in August 2020 from Real Valladolid. He made nearly 70 Premier League appearances before Southampton were relegated last season. Salisu made his Ghana debut in September 2022 in a 3–0 friendly defeat by Brazil.

Persons: Southampton's Mohammed Salisu, Adama Traore, Peter Nicholls, Mohammed Salisu, Salisu, Otto Addo, Anita Kobylinska, Ken Ferris Organizations: Soccer Football, Premier League, Southampton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Adama Traore REUTERS, AS Monaco, Local, Ligue, Saints, Real Valladolid, Monaco, Thomson Locations: Mary's, Southampton, Britain, Ghana, Real, Brazil, Qatar, Ghana's, South Korea, Gdansk

☆ 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

☆ Kenyan, Zambian currencies expected to weaken
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Kenya Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge displays Kenyan shilling bank notes during a news conference at the Central Bank in Nairobi, Kenya, June 3, 2019. One trader at a commercial bank said the currency was expected to float around 141.00 levels. GHANAGhana's cedi is expected to hold steady against the dollar next week on the back of high foreign exchange liquidity following central bank support, traders said. Bid-offer spreads are also expected to tighten further," said Sedem Dornoo, a senior trader at Absa Bank Ghana. UGANDAThe Ugandan shilling is expected to firm in the coming week, drawing support from hard currency inflows from exporters of commodities such as coffee.

Persons: Kenya Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge, Baz Ratner, GHANA Ghana's cedi, Sedem Dornoo, Chris Nettey, ZAMBIA Zambia's kwacha, Elias Biryabarema, Chris Mfula, Bhargav Acharya, Elisha Bala, Hereward Organizations: Kenya Central Bank Governor, Central Bank, REUTERS, KENYA, GHANA Ghana's, greenback, Absa Bank, Trading Stanbic Bank, ZAMBIA Zambia's, Access Bank, Bank, Thomson Locations: Nairobi, Kenya, JOHANNESBURG, Ghana, Nigeria, NIGERIA, GHANA, Absa Bank Ghana, Trading Stanbic Bank Ghana, UGANDA, Kampala, ZAMBIA

WHAT IS THE COMMON FRAMEWORK? The Common Framework requires debtor countries to secure restructuring assurances from any bilateral lenders first and commercial and multilateral lenders second - to Beijing's dismay. "We call on multilateral financial institutions and commercial lenders, who are the main creditors for developing countries, to participate in developing countries' debt relief efforts," Mao said. In Paris, analysts expect China to continue to voice support for the Common Framework but for debt relief to be dispensed "case-by-case". The last time global policymakers met to discuss the Common Framework in Washington, China proposed the IMF should speed up and improve information sharing on debt sustainability analyses.

Persons: Li Qiang, acceding, Yi Gang, Mao Ning, Mao, Qin Gang, Sri, Wang Wenbin, Joe Cash, Ryan Woo, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: Paris Club, International Monetary Fund, Bank, IMF, World Bank, Foreign Ministry, China's, France, Thomson Locations: Paris, China, Zambia, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, United States, U.S, Beijing, Washington, CHINA, Addis Ababa, Japan, India, France, Sri Lanka's

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.

☆ Ghana's main opposition party picks Mahama as 2024 presidential candidate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ACCRA, May 14 (Reuters) - Ghana’s main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to retain former president, John Mahama, as its leader for the 2024 presidential election. This is the third time Mahama will run for the top job in Ghana, one of Africa's most stable democracies. The upcoming presidential vote is expected to be keenly contested. Mahama, 64, secured 297,603 votes, representing 98.9% of votes cast, the electoral commission said early on Sunday. "I am humbled by the overwhelming vote of confidence reposed in me by the party," Mahama said shortly after the declaration.

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.

☆ World Bank Chief Economist Gill calls for new approaches to address 'debt crisis'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill is calling for new approaches to address the mounting debt crisis facing many countries, including steps to factor domestic borrowing into assessment of a country's debt sustainability. Only Chad has reached a debt relief deal with creditors - and it does not include an actual reduction in debt. "Debt levels are already starting to hurt prospects, getting them into the wrong kind of spiral," he said ahead of a World Bank seminar on debt on Wednesday. The Common Framework should be replaced, he said, in the strongest terms used by a World Bank official. He said a new sovereign debt roundtable set up to address challenges in the debt relief process brought in debtor nations and private sector players, but achieved only modest results.

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - African countries are lining up to approve a new vaccine for malaria, with 20 million doses available for them to buy this year, the shot’s manufacturer told Reuters. African countries that do not have extensive resources for drug regulation have previously relied on the U.N. agency to initially review new medicines. "We expect many more countries to come through," Mary Hamel, the WHO's malaria vaccine implementation head, told the expert meeting on Tuesday. “We are committed to making the R21 vaccine available to people who need it most,” Poonawalla said. FUNDING DOUBTSThe moves are a further sign that African countries want to exert their own pharmaceutical oversight after COVID-19 exposed inequity in vaccine supply.

☆ Oxford malaria vaccine rollout could have 'major' implications in sub-Saharan Africa, economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The University of Oxford Jenner Institute, which developed the vaccine, estimates that malaria kills around 800,000 people per annum. These casualties occur predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in five childhood deaths is associated with the disease. The WHO assessed that 241 million clinical cases of malaria occurred in 2020, resulting in 627,000 deaths, mostly among children in Africa. A health worker vaccinates a child against malaria in Ndhiwa, Homabay County, western Kenya on September 13, 2019 during the launch of malaria vaccine in Kenya. Brian Ongoro | AFP | Getty ImagesIn 2021, the WHO signed off on GSK's RTS,S malaria vaccine for rollout across sub-Saharan Africa, following pilot programs in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, which tracked 800,000 children since 2019.

Oxford scientist Adrian Hill said Ghana's drug regulator has approved the vaccine domestically for the age group at highest risk of death from malaria - children aged 5 months to 36 months. Oxford has a deal with Serum Institute of India to produce up to 200 million doses of the vaccine - known as R21 - annually. "This shows how close the world is to having a second approved vaccine to fight malaria," he said. MEETING THE NEEDThe first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix from British drugmaker GSK (GSK.L), was endorsed by the WHO last year after decades of work. Since it began in 2019, 1.2 million children across the three countries have received at least one dose of the Mosquirix vaccine.

☆ Kamala Harris starts Africa tour in Ghana, announces security aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Francis Kokoroko | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Akufo-Addo reiterated that he was concerned about Wagner's presence in West Africa. Several countries across West Africa and the Sahel region have been struggling to quell Islamist insurgencies that have caused humanitarian disasters and fuelled discontent -- contributing factors to military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso. "We appreciate your leadership in response to recent democratic back-sliding in West Africa," Harris told Akufo-Addo. [1/5] U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo during her week-long trip to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, in Accra, Ghana March 27, 2023. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko 1 2 3 4 5After Ghana, Harris will head to Tanzania and Zambia.

☆ In Ghana, Kamala Harris 'excited about the future of Africa'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

U.S. Vice President, Kamala Harris, arrives at the Kotoka International Airport as she begins her trip to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, in Accra, Ghana, March 26, 2023. Vice President Kamala Harris was greeted by schoolchildren, dancers and drummers as she arrived Sunday in Ghana for the start of a weeklong visit to Africa intended to deepen U.S. relationships amid global competition over the continent's future. "What an honor it is to be here in Ghana and on the continent of Africa," Harris said. Harris is the highest-profile member of President Joe Biden's administration to visit Africa this year. In the evening, they will attend a state banquet with the Ghanaian president and first lady.

JOHANNESBURG, March 17 (Reuters) - Debt restructuring programmes in Ghana and Zambia are going in "diverging directions" due to Zambia's larger exposure to Chinese lenders and its weaker ability to cope with a large amount of debt, investment bank Citi said on Friday. Ghana was likely to get an International Monetary Fund (IMF)board sign-off for a $3 billion rescue loan in the next few weeks, while Zambia's restructuring had stalled, Citi's analysts said in a note to clients. Ghana defaulted on its external debts in December and has since sealed a domestic debt swap and requested a restructuring of its bilateral debts via the G20's Common Framework vehicle. "Our more positive view (on Ghana) is supported by a strong commitment by the IMF and Paris Club to achieve a quick breakthrough," the Citi note said. "Assuming a 12.5% exit yield... suggests an average price uptick of 10 cents" on bond prices, the note said.

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