According to a letter signed by the finance and labor ministers, as well as an alliance of trade unions, Ghana would exempt pension funds from its domestic debt restructuring scheme. Ghana’s government has negotiated a staff-level agreement for a $3 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund in an effort to lessen a protracted economic crisis (IMF).
The IMF has stated that the agreement will only be approved by the board if Ghana undergoes a thorough debt restructuring. This month, the nation established an internal debt exchange program and stated that negotiations with creditors were underway for an external restructure. A national strike was threatened by Ghana’s Federation of Labour if pensions were not exempted.
Pension funds owned 6% of Ghana’s domestic governmental debt, which totaled 181 billion cedis ($20.1 billion). Koomson said that the finance ministry agreed to drop pensions from the programme only if labour groups could arrange some sort of alternative plan with the central bank.
