The Individual Bondholder Association has admonished the government to use the Ghc87 billion excess identified in the 2023 budget for the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
Mr. Gayheart Mensah, the Convener of the Bondholders speaking during an interview divulged that the government’s expenditure for 2023 has increased compared to last year, 2022.
According to him, the forceful statements by some section of people that pensioners were being paid 14.5 percent and now the government is giving them 15 percent are trival and untrue.
“We are talking about losses and the government’s expenditure is still going up. The government is not behaving as someone in a debt situation so why should the individual bondholder be in debt? As individuals when we have challenges, we look inside and take those cuts that will enable us to sustain ourselves and our families.
“We don’t go and dip our hands into other people’s pockets in order to manage our financial crisis. So, you don’t dip your hands in an individual’s pocket to resolve national problems. There are a lot of issues that are under this Debt Exchange Programme that make it very unfair.”
Mr. Gayheart Mensah
Mr. Mensah continued by questioning why the individual bondholders are made to proportionately take responsibility for Ghana’s debt,
“We have sat with the government and we came up with almost Ghc87 billion of costs that were unnecessary when you come to the budget of 2023. A cost that we think that in our current situation can be brought down.”
Mr. Gayheart Mensah
Bright Simon Argues Change In Participation Rate Method Won’t Wash
Also, touching on the issues surrounding the debt exchange program participation, the Vice President of IMANI-Africa, Bright Simons has said the government’s attempts to skew the assessment of the participation rate in the domestic debt exchange program will not stand up to the examination, hence, won’t work out.
Government is said to have achieved relatively the percentage target needed for the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
However, the Vice President of IMANI-Africa believes debt service pressure will give the true state of affairs.
“Government of Ghana is trying to change longstanding methods of calculating participation rate in debt exchanges by altering the denominator of total principal. Won’t wash! The debt relief obtained is what it is. It will be felt in the debt servicing burden. Should have consulted more.”
“Given the very low level of trust and suppression of creditor interests through stampeding tactics, a relatively high holdout rate, as witnessed, is the equilibrium outcome.”
Bright Simons
According to Mr. Simons, this ensures an effective balance of power and makes the government think twice about penalizing any creditor faction.
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is billed to appear before Parliament on Thursday, February 16, 2023, following the agitations disrupting government’s Domestic Debt Exchange programme.
Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin directed the Business Committee of the House to summon the Finance Minister to give a policy brief on the programme amid protests by pensioner bondholders for an exemption from the programme.
