Ghana’s Talks With IMF Is In Danger – German Ambassador

The German Ambassador to Ghana says Ghana’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout is in danger.

This, Daniel Krull attributes to China’s unwillingness to engage in possible debt relief.

“The biggest elephant in the room is China. China is the largest creditor to Ghana and so far, it’s not fully supporting the setting up of the creditor’s committee where all the creditors will sit down and agree on a package for Ghana,” he said in a yet-to-be-aired interview on Foreign Affairs on the Joy News Channel.

“Time is of the essence, time is running out. Without this agreement with the bilateral creditors, the IMF package is in severe danger,” he added.

Listen to Daniel Krull in the audio below:

For this reason, he encouraged Members of Parliament as well as Ghanaians with strong ties with China to convince them to come to the table and agree on a package.

According to him, all hand must come on deck to help convince China to come to the negotiation table as the country is running out of time.

“I will like to encourage all Ghanaians who have strong ties with China, who are doing nice business with China to also engage them and convince them that it’s time to sit down with all the other creditors and agree on a package,” he said on Tuesday.

According to him, Germany is ready to come to the table and assist Ghana.

This follows President Akufo-Addo’s appeal for Germany to help convince China to come to the negotiation table.

On the back of this, Mr Krull said, although Germany is ready to assist Ghana get China to the negotiation table, they would want to see some efforts by the government.

“I said Germany is prepared to help and there is another criterial that we off course, that Ghana itself, the government of Ghana it taking the important steps that are needed to move this country, the people, the family out of this crisis to help,

“Any Ghanaian MP listening who is very much engaged in Business in China, please make best use in the interest of Ghana and the people in Ghana,” he said.

He stressed that these steps need to be taken quickly because Ghana is running out of time with regard to securing an IMF deal.

“Time is of the essence, time is running out without disagreement with the Bilateral creditors the IMF package is in severe danger,” he said.

Meanwhile, a high-powered government delegation is expected to travel to China later in March, to engage in talks to restructure the $1.7 billion owed China.

A high-powered government delegation is set to jet off to China in March, hoping to restructure $1.7 owed China as Ghana hopes to complete restructuring of its external debt as part of conditions required to secure an IMF programme.

The meeting with China on debt cancellation was postponed to late March 2023, following the upcoming National People’s Congress of China meeting scheduled for early March.

ELECTION 2024- PRE-POLL

NOTE: THIS IS NOT ORGANISED BY EC

Please click on the link below to cast your vote.

https://sirjohngh.org/vote.html