John Dramani Mahama, a former president of Ghana, has urged the government to engage in more discussion with bondholders in order to come to an agreement on how to handle the country’s debt restructuring program.
He made the request during a public talk on “Africa’s Strategic Goals and Global Role” at Chatham House in London.
He said that the debt restructuring timeframe had been extended three times and questioned whether the January 31 deadline would be met.
He urged a swift end to the negotiations, stressing that the longer the debt restructuring was delayed, the more it would prohibit the country from approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board.
He also urged the Finance Minister to have a meeting with the bondholders to discuss the problem and find a solution.
“I am not opposed to debt restructuring. Debt restructuring is a condition precedent to getting an IMF programme and Ghana needs to do a debt restructuring to be able to go into a programme,” Mr Mahama said.
“What had been the contention is the lack of dialogue and consultation with the bondholders on the domestic side. I know currently, negotiations are taking place with the bondholders on the external side, not the same treatment with the domestic bondholders.”
Before the current crisis even began, Mr. Mahama claimed to have advocated for dialogue. He said, “I advised the Government to hold a national dialogue on the economy; give what the state of the economy is and let everybody buy into it and understand and then seek a broad consensus behind your economic programme.”
He stated that the Government never adopted his idea. He claimed that since 2019, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been voicing concerns over the government’s borrowing plans, which entails raising three billion dollars in eurobonds annually while avoiding investing in the economy’s productive sectors.
According to him, the government must be ready to make even greater sacrifices as it asks the populace to do.