After years of being locked out of global debt markets, Ghana’s next move on international borrowing is back in focus as Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson prepares to present the Mid-Year Budget Review. The presentation is expected to provide insight into whether the government intends to maintain its domestic-led financing approach or begin laying the groundwork for a return to external markets.
The government has for months maintained that a return to Eurobond issuance is not on its immediate agenda, even as it completes its International Monetary Fund-supported programme and cements a run of early debt repayments that analysts say have strengthened its credit standing.
Ato Forson told the country in May that authorities were “not in a hurry” to re-enter the international capital market, and that the 2026 budget’s underlying assumptions carried no provision for fresh external commercial borrowing. That position effectively took a new Eurobond issuance off the table for the current fiscal year, even as the country works to rebuild the confidence lost when it was locked out of global markets during the 2022 default.
Since then, the government has continued servicing its restructured obligations from domestic resources rather than external issuance. The Ministry of Finance confirmed early this month that it had fully settled a US$700 million obligation to bondholders ahead of schedule, made up of US$525.2 million in principal and US$174.8 million in interest, bringing total payments since January 2025 to US$2.1 billion under the terms of the Debt Exchange Programme.
The ministry described the payment as having been made “without undue pressure” on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, a phrase officials have leaned on to underline that reserve accumulation has outpaced the drawdown required by debt servicing.
The stakes attached to Thursday’s presentation are not merely rhetorical. Ato Forson has disclosed that Ghana owes Eurobond holders an estimated US$1.5 billion in 2026 alone, a legacy of borrowing between 2018 and 2021 that cost the country roughly US$2.5 billion in interest payments before the default.
The early settlement of the US$700 million obligation this month, ahead of its original schedule, underscores an emphasis on meeting these commitments from domestic resources rather than fresh external issuance. How government intends to manage the remainder of the year’s external debt exposure, and whether it will lean further on domestic markets or reconsider issuance before year-end, is expected to feature prominently in the review’s fiscal financing outlook.
Market watchers have generally read the signals as cautious. Head of Finance and Accounts at Merban Capital, Nelson Cudjoe Kuagbedzi, said in an interview with CNBC Africa this month that Ghana is not expected to return to the international capital markets in the near term, noting that the government has relied on domestic bonds and treasury bills over the past two years instead of external borrowing.
He pointed to the easing of local borrowing costs, with the 91-day treasury bill yield falling below 6 percent, as evidence that the current financing strategy is delivering room to manoeuvre without resorting to dollar-denominated debt.
The broader backdrop, however, suggests the door has not been permanently shut. A domestic bond issuance in late March, priced with a market-determined coupon and opened to investors, was framed by some analysts as an early step toward rebuilding the country’s sovereign yield curve ahead of any eventual return to external markets.
The government has also signalled that its transition from the Extended Credit Facility to the IMF’s Policy Coordination Instrument, expected to be a centrepiece of Thursday’s statement, is designed to anchor macroeconomic credibility without direct financial support from the Fund, a framework some read as groundwork for eventual re-engagement with commercial lenders rather than a permanent retreat from them.
Regional dynamics add further weight to the question. Both Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya are reportedly considering external debt placements of their own, developments analysts say indicate a gradual reopening of African sovereign borrowing after a prolonged freeze. Should peer economies move first, pressure may build on Ghana to clarify its own timeline rather than leave the matter open-ended.
The government’s official position remains that any move to the international capital market will be preceded by public disclosure, with Ato Forson stating that Ghanaians will be “accordingly” informed should the need arise.
Thursday’s Mid-Year Budget Review is expected to outline the government’s financing strategy following the completion of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme. Investors, credit rating agencies, and Ghanaians will be monitoring any update on the country’s approach to borrowing and its broader debt management strategy.
Parliament is scheduled to debate the review. The scrutiny that debate brings will determine whether the international borrowing question is settled for the remainder of 2026 or left open for later in the year.
