Ghana's economy spirals despite deal on foreign debt restructuring
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00:00Josephine Nyamie has been forced to cut her monthly grocery shopping by a third.
00:06Today, this is the fourth shop she has come to, trying to bargain and buy fish.
00:11I don't know how 200, right?
00:14Snails used to be like, let me say, plenty like 20 cedars.
00:18Now, snails just for 300 or 400, 200 Ghana cedars, yes.
00:23Much like bigger ones, for 200 Ghana cedars.
00:26And it's like, how? It's so expensive.
00:29Ghana's economy has been going through rough times since 2020.
00:33The country's currency, the Sidi, has lost more than half of its value against the US dollar since then.
00:39For car importer Mikey Odenchi, the impact has been serious.
00:43He had to recently sell one car off because the rate is not helping at all.
00:47With the people that I work with, their secretary had to go.
00:50I had two permanent drivers. I had to let them go.
00:53The new debt agreement, signed with bilateral creditors,
00:56to restructure $13 billion of international debt,
00:59seems to be one of the last hopes for many for a turnaround.
01:02The impact of the deal could be relative, according to Professor of Economics Godfrey Bokbeng.
01:07The deal that has been struck right now provides clarity and certainty going forward.
01:13And it's not expected to cause dramatic impact in terms of how the Sidi will respond and all of that.
01:21Because the full benefit of the restructuring had been anticipated and incorporated in the exchange rate
01:28over the couple of years that we've travelled this journey.
01:34Ghana goes to a crucial election in December, and economic issues are expected to be high on the agenda.