Finance Minister - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Nigeria seeking up to $2.25 bln in World Bank loans

NIGERIA is seeking up to $2.25 billion in World Bank loans and expects the bank's board to approve the request in June, the government said in a statement following the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington, D.C. Nigeria also aims to issue diaspora bonds later this year to attract much-need foreign exchange into the country, Finance Minister Wale Edun said in the statement. The World Bank loans would comprise $1.5 billion in development policy financing and $750 million in programme-for-results financing, the statement said, adding the bank would meet in June to consider final approval of the package. The World…

Apr

2024

By RACHEL SAVAGE and MAXWELL AKALAARE ADOMBILA

Ghana fails to reach debt deal with international bondholders

BUSINESS

GHANA has failed to secure a workable debt deal with two bondholder groups in its push to restructure $13 billion of international bonds, the government said on Monday, in a blow to its efforts to swiftly emerge from default and economic crisis. Formal talks were on hold for now after the International Monetary Fund indicated that the deal would not fit its debt sustainability parameters, the government said in a statement. "We will regroup to continue negotiations until we reach a deal that is consistent with IMF debt sustainability targets," the office of Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam said on…

Mar

2024

By MAXWELL AKALAARE ADOMBILA and CHRISTIAN AKORLIE

Ghana seeks to speed up debt restructuring negotiations

BUSINESS

GHANA wants to speed up remaining debt restructuring negotiations, its finance minister said, as the government pushes for a deal to rework over $13 billion of international bonds. The West African country has been overhauling its debts as it tries to emerge from its worst economic crisis in a generation with the help of a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. The government reached a deal in principle in January to restructure $5.4 billion of loans with official creditors. It has since started formal talks with one bondholder group under non-disclosure agreements, Reuters reported about two weeks ago, citing sources familiar…

Mar

2024

By SARAH EL SAFTY

Egypt says land sale, IMF accord will ease budget problems

BUSINESS

EGYPT has taken major steps towards lowering its budget deficit by selling real estate as well as agreeing on a support package with the International Monetary Fund, its finance minister said. Egypt's primary budget surplus will rise to above 3.5% in the fiscal year that will begin in July, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told a news conference on Sunday. The primary surplus does not include interest payments, which in the seven months to end-January accounted for well over half of all expenditures and have kept Egypt deeply in deficit. The finance ministry last month forecast a primary general budget surplus…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

Israel presses on with settlement plans despite US criticism

WORLD

ISRAELI Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pledged to continue expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, defying international pressure on Israel to stop building on land Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state. Late on Tuesday, Smotrich announced the approval of a new settlement called Mishmar Yehuda, in Gush Etzion, a cluster of Jewish settlements located south of Jerusalem, and said work would continue on authorizing further settlements. "We will continue the momentum of settlement throughout the country," he said in a statement. The move comes just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington considered…

Feb

2024

By MAXWELL AKALAARE ADOMBILA

Ghana’s new finance minister pledges to keep IMF programme on track

BUSINESS

GHANA'S new finance minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, pledged to keep its $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme on track as it aims to finish restructuring its overseas debt before an election in December. President Nana Akufo-Addo replaced Ken Ofori-Atta with Adam, a petroleum economist who was minister of state at the finance ministry, in a cabinet reshuffle after criticism of the ex-banker's leadership during the West African country's worst economic crisis in a generation. Ofori-Atta negotiated the IMF bailout loan to address the crisis, which saw inflation and debt servicing costs spiral upwards in 2022. He was, alongside Adam, seeking relief…

Feb

2024

By CHRISTIAN AKORLIE and MAXWELL AKALAARE ADOMBILA

Ghana president replaces finance minister in reshuffle

NEWS

GHANA'S president has replaced finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta in a cabinet reshuffle after criticism of the ex-banker's leadership during the West African country's worst economic crisis in a generation. The office of President Nana Akufo-Addo said that Ofori-Atta would be replaced by Mohammed Amin Adam, currently the minister of state at the finance ministry and previously deputy energy minister responsible for the petroleum sector. It did not give a reason for the change. Ofori-Atta has been overseeing Ghana's debt restructuring efforts after the West African gold, oil and cocoa producer defaulted on most of its external debt in December 2022.…

Feb

2024

By NYASHA CHINGONO

Zimbabwe to link exchange rate to hard assets, create currency board

BUSINESS

ZIMBABWE is working on new measures to stabilise its local currency including linking the exchange rate to hard assets such as gold and creating a currency board, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. The Zimbabwean dollar has fallen about 40% since the start of the year, hurt by increased foreign-currency demand from civil servants being paid December bonuses and weaker commodity prices denting inflows. Last week President Emmerson Mnangagwa said authorities were looking to introduce a "structured currency", without explaining how that would work, and the central bank governor said that work was ongoing. "The idea going forward is to make sure that…

Jan

2024

By DUNCAN MIRIRI

Kenya receives $210 mln in loans from TDB, finance minister says

BUSINESS

THE Trade and Development Bank (TDB) has lent Kenya $210 million, Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung'u told Reuters on Friday, ahead of the maturation of a $2 billion Eurobond in June. Falling hard currency reserves, a steep weakening of the Kenyan shilling and revenue challenges have raised questions about the country's ability to make the Eurobond payment, although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that it does not expect Kenya to default. The loan facility by the TDB, an African development finance institution serving 25 member states, is part of its mandate to raise $1 billion for Kenya's liability management, Ndung'u…

Jan

2024

By VICTORIA WALDERSEE

Ghana will reengage bondholders next week, says finance minister

BUSINESS

GHANA will reengage with its international bondholders from next week, finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta told Reuters, as the country seeks to build on the momentum of a deal last week to restructure $5.4 billion of official creditor debt. The West African country will seek to continue discussions after meeting holders of its around $13 billion in outstanding Eurobonds in Marrakech in October, Ofori-Atta said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting. Officials will also travel to China on January 23, he added. China and France co-chair Ghana's Official Creditor Committee and the agreement reached with…