Ghana fails to reach debt deal with bondholders

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Ghana has failed to strike a deal with a group of international bondholders to restructure $13 billion of debt, the government of the West African nation said on Monday, dealing a blow to efforts to emerge from default and economic crisis.

The deal was derailed by objections from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which said it was incompatible with a debt sustainability analysis that sets parameters for how much debt a country can afford, the government said in a statement.

The bondholder group had also rejected part of the proposed rework, including a "par option" to retain the original value of the bond with a longer maturity and lower coupon.

In December 2022, Ghana, the world's second-biggest cocoa producer, defaulted on most of its external debt of $30 billion, after debt costs and inflation surged when it was locked out of international markets.

(Reporting by Rachel Savage and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)