Ghana to ensure payments of coupons, principals of old bonds resume on March 13

ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana’s finance ministry said on Monday it was taking steps to ensure payments of coupons and principals of old bonds resume on March 13 following the conclusion of a domestic debt exchange programme.

It also said in a statement that the newly issued bonds had been settled and listed, and would become the new benchmark bonds for the fixed income market.

Ghana has to restructure its debt to secure a $3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.

It successfully closed a long-delayed domestic debt exchange programme on Feb. 14 with registrations from around 85% of eligible bondholders.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said two days later that substantive discussions with external bondholders were due to start in the next few weeks.

(Reporting by Sofia Christensen; Editing by James Macharia Chege)