By Francis Ntow
Accra, June 16, GNA – Fitch Ratings has upgraded Ghana’s long-term foreign-currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘B-’ from ‘Restricted Default’ (RD) with a stable outlook, signifying a significant improvement in the country’s creditworthiness.
Fitch in its June assessment said the upgrade reflected the country’s normalised relations with a significant majority of external commercial creditors, citing the restructuring of the US$13.1 billion Eurobonds in October 2024.
It, however, noted that about US$2.6bn of non-performing external debt still needed to be restructured, including US$700 million to be commercial debt, representing five per cent of total external commercial debt initially included in the restructuring perimeter.
The rating agency quickly added that Ghana was negotiating with the outstanding commercial creditors, describing the “holdout risks as small.”
Fitch observed a strong nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the Ghanaian economy, fiscal consolidation, remaining debt restructuring, and better exchange rate appreciation in recent months would contribute to public debt falling.
The June assessment projected public debt to fall to 60 per cent of GDP in 2025 and 2026, from the 72 per cent in 2024 and a peak of 93 per cent in 2022 when it announced its intention to default.
It noted that the country’s real GDP growth has proved resilient throughout the restructuring process, at 3.1 per cent in 2023 and 5.7 per cent in 2024.
“We anticipate growth will remain solid, at four per cent in 2025 and 4.5 per cent in 2026, on a rebound in agricultural output after a steep decline in cocoa production in recent years, and a continued expansion of the industrial and services sectors,” Fitch stated
It projected inflation to average 15 per cent in 2025 and 10 per cent in 2026, down from 23 per cent in 2024, helped by the large cedi appreciation since April 2025, calling for continued tight monetary policy stance and fiscal consolidation.
“The size of the pass-through of exchange rate appreciation is uncertain, but we believe it will rapidly contribute to a moderation in domestic inflation, backed up by lower oil prices and international food prices,” Fitch said.
GNA