Daniel Krull, the German ambassador to Ghana, has issued a warning that if China refuses to agree to a debt relief plan, the $3 billion rescue from the International Monetary Fund may not be authorized.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Krull claimed that efforts by Ghanaian authorities to persuade China to agree to the formation of a creditors’ committee in order to reach a debt package agreement have so far been unsuccessful.
On Friday, February 3, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo requested Germany to “push” China, an ad hoc member of the Paris Club, to help Ghana’s debt restructuring initiatives.
When the German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, visited the President at Jubilee House in Accra, the President made the call.
The government’s scheduled high-level conference with Chinese creditors regarding Ghana’s debt restructuring has been postponed until late March 2023, according to information released by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on Thursday.
He claims that this is because of the impending National People’s Congress of China, which is set to take place in the first few days of March.
But, Mr. Krull has revealed that other creditors will only contribute and assist if China, Ghana’s largest creditor, agrees to the debt reduction package.
“We are prepared to live up to our responsibility as one of the major bilateral creditors to Ghana, but we are only ready to implement our solidarity only if certain criteria are met. In this first place, it has to be done in an internationally coordinated fashion, and therefore we have the G20 common framework. The G20 has agreed on how to deal with these kinds of crises, and we feel that it is important that this framework is respected.
“The second condition is that we are ready to take our part when others are ready to do that so all major creditors must be ready to help Ghana. The Big elephant in the room is China. China is the largest creditor to Ghana and so far [China] is not supportive of setting up of a creditors’ committee, where the creditors will sit down and agree on an aid package for Ghana.”
