An IMF team is visiting Ghana until Dec. 13 as the country aims to negotiate a relief package before the end of the year, to help relieve its debt distress and overcome its worst economic crisis in a generation.
Ghana announced a domestic debt exchange on Monday hoping that the move would help restore macroeconomic stability.
Treasury and debt management director Samuel Arkhurst told reporters on Tuesday that the IMF had "nothing to do" with Ghana's decision to undergo a domestic debt restructuring.
He told Reuters earlier that the consequences for those who do not voluntarily participate in the domestic bond exchange are still being negotiated, but there were no plans to go to parliament to force domestic bondholders to participate.
"If the holdhouts are large, we will be in trouble," Arkurst told reporters in a briefing.
A bank recapitalisation will definitely happen, with the central bank currently negotiating with commercial banks as to what shape it will take, he said.
The west African producer of gold, cocoa and oil is aiming to cut its debt-to-GDP ratio from 100% to 55% by 2028, as it struggles with interest payments that have soared to between 70% and 100% of revenues, while its cedi currency has tumbled and inflation rocketed.
Public debt was GHS467.4 billion or $48.9 billion in September, of which 42% was domestic debt, according to the most recent central bank figures released last month.
Ghana is also planning to exchange local dollar bills, cocoa bills, and domestic non-marketable debt at a "later stage", the finance ministry said in a statement earlier on Wednesday.
Cocoa bills and domestic non-marketable debt would be exchanged "under comparable terms" to the domestic bond restructuring announced on Monday, the finance ministry said in a Q&A statement, but did not provide any further details.
"For those not participating in the domestic debt exchange, they will continue to hold the non-tendered eligible bonds - the existing bonds," the finance ministry statement said.
"However, the Government reserves the right to ensure that "old" bonds do not benefit from their non-participation in the domestic debt exchange."
Ghana's government is also planning to restructure its foreign debt, including $13 billion of Eurobonds that have traded at deeply distressed levels of below 50 cents on the dollar for months, but has not yet set out proposals.
(Reporting by Cooper Inveen and Christian Akorlie; Writing by Rachel Savage and Nellie Peyton; Editing by James Macharia Chege, Alex Richardson, William Maclean)
By Cooper Inveen and Christian Akorlie
