(Bloomberg) — Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo replaced his finance minister as the West African nation looks to secure an agreement with commercial creditors on restructuring its debt.
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Mohammed Amin Adam, currently the minister of state for finance, will replace Ken Ofori-Atta with immediate effect, the president said in a statement in the capital, Accra, on Wednesday. Twelve other ministers and 10 deputy ministers were relieved of their duties in the reshuffle, he said.
Ofori-Atta, 65, had been finance minister since 2017 and successfully led negotiations to secure a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund as well as an agreement with bilateral creditors to restructure the West African nation’s loans. He previously faced criticism for his handling of the nation’s economic crisis — Ghana’s currency plunged and yields on its eurobonds surged on concerns about the sustainability of its debt — and survived a censure motion in parliament in December 2022.
Ghana’s government reached a deal with bilateral creditors last month to restructure $5.4 billion of loans and has set a target date of March 31 of reaching a similar agreement with commercial creditors. The country is gearing up for presidential elections that are scheduled to take place in early December.
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Ofori-Atta’s removal “was expected before the elections given the finance minister’s unpopularity in the wake of the 2022 economic crisis,” said Thys Louw, portfolio manager at asset manager Ninety One UK Ltd. “The market will be worried that we are back to square one in terms of the external debt restructuring, but overall I think any delay based on change is likely to be limited.”
Ghana’s 2032 bonds fell 1.2% to 44.37 cents on the dollar by 11:11 a.m. in London.
Adam, 49, previously served as deputy minister of energy before his appointment as minister of state at the Finance Ministry. He holds a PhD. in petroleum economics from the Centre for Energy, Petroleum & Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee in the UK and an MPhil (Economics) and a BA in Economics from the University of Cape-Coast.
–With assistance from Rene Vollgraaff.
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