VenturesNow

Ghana confident over bondholder deal as IMF completes review

Published

5 months ago

April 15, 2024

Ghana’s finance minister said on Saturday that the country was sure it would “at some point” be able to reach a deal with foreign bondholders to restructure $13 billion in debt. This came at the same time that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a successful review of its loan program.

With the help of the $3 billion IMF program, the West African country has been paying off its debt as it tries to get out of its worst economic problem in a generation.

The Fund and Ghana agreed in January to change the terms of $5.4 billion in loans with government creditors. The new agreement at the staff level for the second review of the program would let a $360 million tranche be released once Ghana gave guarantees for the deal’s funding.

The head of the IMF’s mission to Ghana, Stephane Roudet, said that the IMF needs to keep seeing progress in Accra’s separate talks with foreign bondholders, which are still going on.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Roudet, Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam expressed optimism but gave no timeline.
“Negotiations are ongoing. We’ve been more aggressive over the last two months… We are very confident that if things go the way they are, we certainly will reach a deal at some point,” he said.

The cocoa, gold, and oil-producing country asked the IMF for help in 2022 when rising inflation and debt costs caused it to fail on most of its $30 billion in foreign debt. “Ghana’s performance under the program had been generally strong,” said Roudet of the Fund.

“The authorities’ strong policy and reform efforts to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability … are already generating positive results,” he said.
“In other words, the programme is working.”

This number has gone down from 54% in 2022 to 25.8% in March. Governor Ernest Addison told the news conference that the central bank thinks it will be around 15% by the end of 2024, even though deflation has been slowing down lately.

VenturesNow

Botswana grants a mining permit for its first manganese operation

Published

1 day ago

September 19, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Giyani Metals, Botswana’s first manufacturer of manganese suitable for batteries, revealed that the country had granted it a 15-year mining permit.

The demand for manganese, a crucial component of batteries, is anticipated to rise due to the rise in electric vehicles and other clean energy applications.

One of the few battery-grade manganese projects outside of China is Giyani’s Kgwakwe Hill (K.Hill) project, which will process manganese oxide material on-site to generate high-purity manganese sulphate. 90% of the world’s supply of high-purity manganese is controlled by this Asian nation.

An early economic study from 2023 states that the K. Hill mine will produce 80,000 metric tonnes of high-quality manganese sulphate monohydrate annually throughout a 57-year life.

“The next step is production of battery-grade manganese from our demonstration plant, which is under construction in Johannesburg, South Africa,” the Canadian company said in a statement.

It further stated that the product from the demonstration facility will be utilised for off-taker qualification, an essential stage before the signing of offtake agreements.

The diamond industry is very important to Botswana, which produces the most diamonds globally in terms of value. The gem industry accounts for 30% of national income and 70% of foreign exchange earnings.

The nation wants to diversify its mining industry by using resources including iron ore, nickel, copper, and coal.

The nation is home to three active copper mines in addition to its two active coal mines.

The demand for battery metals like manganese is predicted to decrease the nation’s dependency on diamonds as a result of the growing need for green minerals worldwide brought on by the energy transition.

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Ghana records fastest growth in 5 years as GDP expands by 6.9% in Q2 2024

Published

1 day ago

September 19, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Ghana has recorded its strongest rate of economic growth in five years in the second quarter of 2024, with the country’s statistics agency reporting on Thursday that the country’s GDP expanded by 6.9% year over year.

The country, which is a top producer of cocoa, oil, and gold has been battling the greatest economic crisis in a generation as a result of spiralling public debt, the robust rise signifies a noteworthy comeback.

“The 6.9% growth rate is the highest since the second quarter of 2019 and it was driven largely by strong expansion in the extractive sector, just as we saw in the second quarter of 2019,” government statistician Samuel Kobina Annim said.

Mining and quarrying contributed to the 9.3% growth in Ghana’s overall industry sector, while the gold sector climbed by 23.6% during the quarter for the third time in a row. Agriculture expanded 5.4%, but the services sector grew by 5.8%, according to Annim.

However, the cocoa sector shrank by 26.2% for the fourth consecutive quarter, underscoring the effects of a persistent drop in crop output brought on by disease and unfavourable weather.

The West African state is benefiting further from the economic recovery as it restructures its debt. After striking a preliminary restructuring agreement with two bondholder groups, it has extended an invitation to holders of its about $13 billion worth of international bonds to exchange their holdings for new instruments.

Bondholders can accept the offer until September 30. However, there will be a 1% consent fee for those who accept it before an early deadline of September 20.