ACCRA - Ghana has suspended payments on most of its foreign debts, effectively defaulting as the country starts restructuring, as part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund.
The finance ministry said Monday that it will suspend service payments of its Eurobonds, commercial loans and most bilateral loans.
Calling the decision an "interim emergency measure", the ministry said the government "stands ready to engage in discussions with all of its external creditors to make Ghana's debt sustainable.”
A top cocoa and gold producer, Ghana also has oil and gas reserves, but its debt has soared this year, and like the rest of sub-Saharan Africa it has been hit by the fallout from the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
The government currently spends 70 percent to 100 percent of its revenue servicing its debt, and it has been struggling to refinance since the start of the year.
