Nationwide Darkness Looms In Ghana As Power Companies Reject Debt Restructure

Category: Africa News

Ghana’s proposal to restructure the $1.58 billion in debt owed to its independent power producers has been rejected by the country’s power companies.

According to Reuters, the leader of the independent power companies warned that nonpayment could result in the company’s activities being halted.

The restructuring proposal had been “corporately and individually rejected,” according to Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, head of the Ghana Independent Power Producers (IPP) Chamber.

According to Mr Apetorgbor, the producers, who supply more than 65 per cent of the thermal power that is readily accessible, were unwilling to make any kind of compromise and were also almost about to turn off their facilities.

Ghana must lower $10.5 billion in interest payments on its external debt over the course of three years in order to successfully implement a $3 billion loan arrangement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meant to combat its largest economic crisis in a generation.

Mohammed Amin Adam, the country’s minister of state in the finance ministry, criticised the decision of the power companies, arguing that threats of a shutdown, while negotiations were still on, cannot be tolerated.

He, however, said that the government will continue transparent and practical engagement with each individual IPP.

The IMF claimed that take-or-pay contracts, cheap prices, and excess capacity contributed to Ghana’s energy shortages, which it claimed had been costing the national government two per cent of GDP annually since 2019.

Ghana’s electricity cost went up by nearly 30 per cent in the first quarter of 2023. It increased further by 18.36 per cent in the second quarter.