Prior to the announcement by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, the details of the Debt Exchange Program were not provided to Parliament, according to the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.
In an interview with Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, January 16, the Suame Member of Parliament said there were broad discussions about the economy but they did not have the details of the debt exchange programme.
“There were meetings before the budget came to be consummated and later on presented by the Finance Minister. So we had broad discussions, but the details were not known to us at the time, but some consultations went on as to where exactly we were as a nation. But I am not too sure that this matter came up for discussion maybe the broad strokes were mentioned but not the details,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told host Bernard Avle.
Today, Monday, January 16, 2023, is the last day for bondholders to join the government’s domestic debt swap program.
The government started the initiative to invite bondholders to voluntarily exchange about GH137 billion in domestic notes and bonds of the Republic, including ESLA and Daakye, for a bundle of new bonds in an effort to address the nation’s ongoing economic woes.
In order to help bondholders better understand their alternatives, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also restated his prior request to the Finance Minister to organize broad consultations on the debt swap program.
The inclusion of individual bondholders in the Domestic Debt Exchange scheme, according to the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs on Friday, January 13, might destroy the middle class and have a negative impact on Ghanaians’ savings habits.
The Suame MP called on the Finance Minister to adequately engage with key stakeholders when speaking with a group of individual bondholders led by convener Senyo Hosi and private attorney Martin Kpebu on Friday after receiving a petition to exclude individual bondholders from the debt swap.
“What we [are] talking about is that many of these bondholders also belong to the middle class and that’s where the major worry is. If we are wiping away the middle class, that could be dangerous, so we need to have some further dialogue on this. Government thinks that this is the best way forward, however, even if it is, we need to engage, reflect and then move on and that will encourage some people who have some doubt to better appreciate where we are.”
He added, “Nothing can substitute for discussions, round table discussions and engagements wherever we find ourselves in. I think it’s important that we go back to the drawing table to have engagements with the major stakeholders… All of us are in it. And if we don’t manage it well, we’ve gone through this before, way back some 25, 30 years ago and repositioning was a major, major difficulty. Today many people are coming on board and if this thing should happen, how do we build confidence and trust and reconstruct a new savings culture?”
