Ken Ofori-Atta
The leadership of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has tasked Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to spare smaller bondholders from the debt exchange programme.
This follows a crunch meeting that took place on Wednesday between the Finance Minister and other party leaders, at the party’s headquarters
According to the General Secretary of the party, Justin Kodua, the party had received numerous requests for the government to consider the debt swap programme hence tasking the Minster for Finance to exempt retirees and other individual bondholders from the programme.
Even though, it hasn’t been established how many organizations or people have agreed to participate in the initiative, which has been rejected by several organizations.
The programme to invite bondholders to voluntarily exchange about GHC137 billion in domestic notes and bonds of the Republic, including ESLA and Daakye, for a package of new bonds was initiated by the government to address the nation’s persistent economic woes.
Since it was first announced, the domestic debt swap programme has been under heavy fire from labour unions, who were able to secure the exemption of pension funds.
The Individual Bondholders Association is one of the organizations that has opposed the scheme.
-BY Daniel Bampoe