Ghana default 2022

In December 2022, Ghana suspended payments on most of its external debt, becoming one of the highest-profile sovereign defaults of the post-pandemic emerging-market debt cycle. The Ministry of Finance announced on 19 December 2022 that it would halt servicing of Eurobonds, commercial loans, and most bilateral debt, framing the move as an "interim emergency measure" while it pursued an IMF programme and a comprehensive debt restructuring.

The default followed a sharp deterioration in macroeconomic conditions: the cedi lost roughly half its value against the US dollar during 2022, headline inflation exceeded 50% by year-end, and the country lost access to international capital markets after credit downgrades by Fitch, Moody's, and S&P earlier in the year. Public debt had climbed to around 90% of GDP, with interest payments consuming a large share of government revenue.

Key elements of the response included:

• A $3 billion Extended Credit Facility with the IMF, approved by the Fund's Executive Board on 17 May 2023.
• A Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) launched in late 2022, which restructured local-currency bonds held by banks, pension funds, and individuals into longer-maturity instruments with lower coupons.
• External debt treatment under the G20 Common Framework, with an Official Creditor Committee co-chaired by China and France. An agreement in principle with bilateral creditors was reached in January 2024.
• A Eurobond restructuring deal with private bondholders announced in June 2024, exchanging roughly $13 billion in old bonds for new instruments with haircuts on principal and interest.

Ghana's default is frequently cited alongside Zambia (2020) and Sri Lanka (2022) as a test case for the Common Framework, exposing both its slow pace and the difficulty of coordinating Paris Club members, China, and private creditors. It also highlighted domestic-debt restructuring as an increasingly common feature of modern sovereign workouts.