The Minority in Parliament has called on the government to suspend the ongoing domestic Debt Exchange Programme(DDE) immediately.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, made this known at a press conference in Accra on Monday, January 16, 2023.
According to Mr Iddrisu, the programme is certainly not in the best interest of Ghanaians.
He said, “It is already failing and promises to be a failure.”
He said the programme’s failure, which seems imminent in his estimation, will mean failure to get approval from the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from whom the country is seeking an extended credit facility (ECF) worth $3 billion.
Mr Iddrisu also added that the failure of the government to engage the relevant stakeholders in the Debt Exchange Programme has led to confusion and implementation challenges.
“The Debt Exchange Programme is a risk to financial institutions and insurance companies. Our banks and other financial institutions are still reeling after the infamous financial sector bailout. The Debt Exchange Programme will further exacerbate the already perilous financial sector.
“The last thing Ghanaians would want is a total collapse of the financial sector by a government which went haywire on a borrowing spree. The future sustainability of our insurance companies cannot be guaranteed under this poorly crafted Debt Exchange Programme.
“Indeed, the Debt Exchange Programme as proposed and implemented now cannot be in the interest of our financial institutions and insurance companies. It certainly is not in the best interest of Ghanaians,” he stated.
The Minority Caucus is, therefore, calling on the government to suspend the initiative, engage in deeper consultation, and allow for greater consultations.
In the government’s quest to address the country’s ongoing economic challenges, it launched the programme to invite holders of bonds to voluntarily exchange approximately GH¢137 billion domestic notes and bonds of the Republic, including ESLA and ‘Daakye’, for a package of new bonds.
It is currently unclear how many institutions or individuals have signed onto the programme, which several groups have rejected.
Meanwhile, the government has extended the deadline for the programme for the third time to Tuesday, January 31, to enable it to build consensus for the programme.
Domestic bondholders had up until the close of today, January 16, to sign up for the programme.
However, the Individual Bondholders Forum has asked its members not to sign up for the programme while threatening legal action.