Ghana’s economy grew 4.7% in the first quarter of 2024

AFRICAN BUSINESS AND ECONOMYJune 18, 2024 at 6:20 PM UTC

TLDR

Ghana's economy grew by 4.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, driven by strong performance in industry and services sectors.
Talks to restructure $13 billion of international bonds with Ghana's bondholders will resume this week after the country defaulted on most of its $30 billion external debt in 2022.
Ghana's economic challenges stemmed from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and rapid global interest rate increases.

Ghana’s economy grew 4.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, the country’s statistics agency said on Tuesday. Samuel Kobina Annim, the government statistician said the first quarter growth rate was driven by strong performance in industry and services sectors.

The gold-, oil- and cocoa-producer and its bondholders will restart talks this week to hash out a debt restructuring deal on $13 billion of international bonds.

The west African nation defaulted on most of its $30 billion in external debt in 2022, weighed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and rapid global interest rate hikes that boosted borrowing costs.

Key Takeaways

The West African nation faces a debt overhaul after its already strained finances buckled under economic fallout from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The West African nation is negotiating its international debt rework under the Group of 20’s Common Framework platform and completed a domestic debt exchange this year. According to government data, some $5.4 billion of debt to official creditors has been earmarked for restructuring, as well as $14.6 billion owed to private overseas creditors. Although Ghana’s process has been faster and smoother than Zambia’s, the first African country to default in the Covid-19 era.

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