Ghana to issue second Eurobond
Ghana is in the process of issuing a second Eurobond to restructure its debt and reduce the burden of interest on the budget, the , has stated.
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The ease of the pressure on the budget would help the government to finance critical infrastructure projects, he said.
Addressing the Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for sub-Saharan Africa in Accra, Mr Amissah-Arthur acknowledged the major problem of exchange risk in those transactions, but said the government would be cautious to examine cheaper options for the financing of its infrastructure.
The common themes that have emerged in the REO for sub-Saharan Africa over the last few years have been accounts of growth and change, of resilience in the face of external shocks, commodity price declines and climate change and accounts of improving economic management and governance.
The IMF, through the REO, reports the transformation of African economies of poverty reduction, job creation and sustainable growth.
He said this year, the outlook reinforced Africa’s growth story that the continent continued to post high economic growth, estimated at 5.4 per cent, well above the three per cent growth projected for the global economy.
The Vice-President, however, acknowledged that risks remained, global conditions were uncertain, and many African economies were yet to rebuild their macroeconomic buffers to the levels prior to the intervention of the global crisis.
“Because Africa has a lot more catching up to do, the weak external environment represents a significant challenge to sustaining growth,” he said.
Mr Amissah-Arthur said in order to develop the societies and further reduce poverty, there was the need for a better understanding of how to strengthen the growth momentum in a multi-speed and tentative world.
The current challenge that Ghana faces is how to extend our fiscal space, through public expenditure rationalisation and revenue mobilisation.
We are, therefore, developing new financing options that allow the sharing of responsibility for infrastructure between the public and private sectors,” the Vice-President said.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr H. A. Kofi Wampah, commended the IMF for publishing the world research report, adding that lessons in the report were good for Ghana’s development.