“Forgive us”: Finance Minister tells Ghanaians over impact of domestic debt exchange programme

The Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has rendered an apology to the people of Ghana for the hardships forced on them by the government as a result of  the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

According to him, the programme, a requirement by the International Monetary Fund(IMF) was necessary at the time and avoidance of it’s would have had dire consequences on the country’s economy.

Ghana was seeking some $3billion extended credit facility from the IMF to restore its distress economy which officials said was as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia- Ukraine war.

“We decided to restructure our debts because it was one of the requirements by the IMF. We started with the domestic debt exchange programme. The domestic debt exchange programme was very successful, achieving 95 percent participation. On this note, I would like to appeal to the people of this country to forgive us,” he said.

“It is never the intention of any government to impose hardships on its people, more so the NPP government that has demonstrated that we want to reduce the burden of the Ghanaian people,” Dr Amin Adam said.

“It was a necessary, important decision at the time. If we had avoided it our development or economy would not be what it is today. All the support you gave us during the DDEP has contributed largely to the recovery our economy is seeing today”.

Dr Amin Adam was speaking at a town hall meeting in Accra on Tuesday, August 6.

“This is why I want to appeal to you to forgive us but also to thank you on behalf of the president for the sacrifices, for the efforts that you all have made to participate in the DDEP,” he appealed.

Ofori-Atta announce Domestic Debt Exchange programme

The government of Ghana on December 5, 2022 launched a domestic debt exchange programme and pushed through with its implementation despite several agitations from the public.

The Minister of Finance then, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta who announced the programme at a press conference monitored by GhanaPlus.com said it was to restore macroeconomic stability and investor confidence in the country’s ailing economy.

Under the programme, “Domestic bondholders will be asked to exchange their instruments for new ones. Existing domestic bonds as of 1st December 2022 will be exchanged for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032 and 2037. The annual coupon on all of these new bonds will be set at 0% in 2023, 5% in 2024 and 10% from 2025 until maturity. Coupon payments will be semi-annual,” Mr Ofori-Atta announced.

Treasury bills were however, exempted from the programme.

“Treasury Bills are completely exempted and all holders will be paid the full value of their investments on maturity. There will be NO haircut on the principal of bonds. Individual holders of bonds will not be affected,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.

The programme, however, brought untold hardships on Ghanaian investors most of whom were pensioners.

Source: GhanaPlus.com