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Feb 21 (Reuters) - Ratings agency Fitch on Tuesday
downgraded Ghana's long-term foreign-currency issuer default
rating to 'restricted default', after the country missed the
grace period to make a coupon payment on one of its Eurobonds.
Ghana on Friday missed making the $40.6 million coupon
payment on its $1 billion 2026 Eurobond, as part of the
suspension of payments on selected external debt that the
government announced in December, Fitch said.
The country has about $13 billion in dollar-denominated
international bonds, or Eurobonds, as they are also known. Most
were trading at between 37 cents and 41 cents on the dollar on
Tuesday. On Feb. 14, Fitch had already downgraded Ghana's local debt
rating to 'restricted default'.
The government, which is battling a once-in-a-generation
economic crisis, said last week it had finished a domestic debt
exchange with 85% participation of "eligible" bonds - or 64% of
the 130 billion cedis originally slated for restructuring,
before pension funds were excluded when unions threatened to
strike.
It has now turned its attention to reaching an initial
agreement on restructuring about $29 billion of external debt, a
condition of securing a $3 billion International Monetary Fund
loan.
(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru, Rachel Savage and Anait
Miridzhanian in Johannesburg; Editing by Andrew Heavens and
Bernadette Baum)
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