Former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, has lamented the current state of affairs in the country.
According to him, it doesn’t bode well for government to turn a blind eye to the concerns registered by citizens in the country. He indicated that government must show remorse for the bad decisions that were taken leading the country to the current economic problems.
Mr Terkper stated that the current challenges which did not start today, cannot be solved via the strategies that the government is deploying to salvage the economy.
“Some empathy and regret will help the correction, yet it seems missing. The present state of affairs did not begin in the present. So, it can’t and must not be wished away with patriotic pleas. When the citizens’ alarms at the state of affairs were ignored, being corky went global.”
Seth Terkper
Elaborating on the mistakes of government, Mr Terkper stated that government exited programmes with fanfare but did U-turns for COVID loans and Special Drawing Rights. He highlighted that government subsequently aborted the Debt Suspension plan yet “plead today with eminent patrons of the same bodies and schemes to help restructure” the elevated debt.
“We pray too, as we consult restive domestic patrons; truth dawns. It is partly our propensity to expand expenditure, with stagnant revenues. Then, to longer able to borrow, BoG steps its financing of the deficit [from zero]. With depleting BOG domestic and external reserves, the outcome is not only inflation but currency devaluation and default.”
Seth Terkper
Mr Terkper’s comments followed finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s plea with the pensioners to accept a 3.5% cut and accept the new terms of 15% coupon rate and 5% maturity.
Finance minister’s plea with individual bondholders
In a statement, Mr Ofori-Atta stated that government has listened to the plight of people, and it is protecting the destitute, widows and the orphans and the older people who have worked for this nation. He noted that government cannot be indifferent to the crisis that has engulfed the nation. In a crisis, we cannot put our heads under the sun and pretend that we are not.
Addressing Pensioner bondholders, the finance minister urged them to be mindful that government needs to be successful in going to the IMF by March to avoid what the nation experienced last year. He explained that as a government, the singular motivation “for taking this rather difficult road is to restore macro-economic stability, achieve debt sustainability and get the economy” fully back on track.
The finance minister equally expressed that these are necessary pre-conditions for creating jobs; safeguarding and enhancing incomes; fostering inclusive growth and restoring hope to Ghanaians.
In government’s bid to solve the challenges in the country, it has resolved to among other things, implement the Debt exchange programme which has been met with agitations from affected groups and stakeholders. Key among them is the Individual Bondholders and pensioners who are of the opinion that their inclusion will not be fair to them as their interest will be heavily impact.
Despite meetings with the finance ministry to resolve the matter, the groups have expressed the need for the programme to be scrapped, while government on the other hand, has extended the deadline for these bondholders to sign on.
Meanwhile, the Individual Bondholders have picketed at the Ministry of Finance, with demands that they should be exempted totally from the ongoing Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
About 50 of the bondholders wearing red arm bands have thronged the Ministry’s premises with placards to register their displeasure over their expected inclusion in the programme.
