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According to confirmation from Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, all pensioners who chose not to exchange their old bonds for new ones under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) have been spared from the program.
On February 16, 2023, Ofori-Atta spoke to Parliament about the status of the Domestic Debt Exchange Program and advised the holders of pensioner bonds not to worry since all of their coupons will be honored when they reached maturity.
The government is still dedicated to ensuring the welfare of our older citizens.
The fact that some of our retirees have been picketing outside the Finance Ministry’s offices since Monday, February 6, 2023, has caused me a great deal of pain.
In accordance with the government’s fiscal promises, I have previously said in my press statement of February 14, 2023, that the government will honor their coupons payments and maturing principles like all other government bonds.
“Mr Speaker, in seeking to understand the concerns of our senior citizens, I have met with them on three occasions, the recent was yesterday 15th February 2023 where I explained the terms of the new bonds. Mr Speaker, I subsequently wrote to their convener letting him know that all pensioners who did not participate in the bond offering are exempted.”
Since Monday, February 6, 2023, protesters from the Pensioner Bondholders Forum have been demonstrating in front of the Ministry of Finance, calling for a complete exemption from the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Program.
The group has committed to keep picketing until they receive a formal letter from the government, signed by the Minister of Finance, confirming that they are excluded from the Domestic Debt Exchange Program.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the government claimed that it had achieved greater than the required 80% participation in the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP), which was one of the necessary first steps in getting board-level approval from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a $3 billion facility to reestablish macroeconomic stability in the nation.
“The government’s DDEP closed on Friday 10th February 2023 with over 80% participation of eligible bonds” In a statement released on Tuesday, the finance ministry stated.
In order to reduce its overall debt, which now stands at roughly 575.5 billion Ghana cedis, to levels that can be sustained, the government set a target participation rate of 80% in the program to help restructure 137.3 billion Ghana cedis in bonds on the domestic market.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
