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In an apparent about-face, the government has
also decided not to pursue a bridge finance loan that would have
been worth up to $1 billion, James Avedzi, head of the
parliamentary finance committee, told Reuters.
The government said in a memo to parliament in March it had
started talks over the loan with a consortium including Bank of
America Merrill Lynch and Belstar Capital and hoped to complete
it before July.
"The government has rescinded its decision. It is not going for
the bridge loan," Avedzi said.
"We will proceed with the Eurobond which parliament has already
approved and so the Ministry of Finance has started the process,
hoping that by June they will go to the market," he said.
There was no immediate comment from the finance ministry.
The International Monetary Fund agreed a deal with Ghana this
month for $918 million to stabilize an economy that faces high
levels of public debt, a currency that has fallen sharply, a
stubborn budget deficit and inflation that recently rose as high
as 17 percent.
Ghana was for years one of Africa's fastest growing economies
through its exports of gold, cocoa and oil but gross domestic
product growth is forecast for 3.9 percent this year, lower than
the average for sub-Saharan Africa
(Reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by James Macharia)
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