Following government’s debt restructuring program after the country was declared debt distressed, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has hinted that the country is preparing to engage China to ask for pardon.

According to the Finance Minister, China holds about a third of the country’s total external debt hence the external debt restructuring will be very difficult without the support of the Asian country.

In view of this, speaking in an interview, Ken Ofori-Atta revealed that the government is preparing to send a delegation to China to plead the case of Ghana.

“The big elephant in the room is China, we will be visiting China by the end of the week to really discuss how they come into the envelope as quickly as possible. So we are looking at that support from them. China represents about a third of the $5.7 billion loan and so it is important that we engage them,” Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed.

Government is now focusing on its external debt after a successful domestic debt exchange program which was faced with controversies and opposition, was concluded last week.

Meanwhile, the IMF in January 2023, announced that it is working towards a debt cancellation programme for Ghana and other countries amid a global economic recession scare this year.

The other countries are Ethiopia, Zambia, Chad, Lebanon, Surinam, and Sri Lanka.

The move, Madam Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF Managing Director, said was to avert any “bad surprise” on the global economy, out of which 25 percent had its trade in emerging markets territories.

“We’re working hard to press for debt resolution for these countries, and we’ve engaged with the traditional creditors, the Paris Club, the non-traditional creditors, China, India, and Saudi Arabia. Our call is very simple: Urgently we have to act,” she said in an interview.