Govt will fulfil obligations to pensioner bondholders - Finance Minister
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has stated that the government will not punish any bondholder who decided not to participate in the domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP).
He reiterated that the government would honour its obligations to them according to the terms of the long-term government paper.
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Mr Ofori-Atta gave the assurance at a joint press briefing with the Pensioner Bondholders Forum in Accra yesterday.
The meeting, which lasted for a few minutes, was to afford the government and the pensioner bondholders a common platform to seal their discussions on the debt swap programme.
The Finance Minister noted that the DDEP was voluntary for people who wanted to participate and would not be used against those who stayed away.
“Nobody will be punished. All coupons will be honoured in the same way the contracts were signed,” he said.
Economic hardship
Mr Ofori-Atta called on citizens to remain resolute as the economy faced difficulties, in the hope that all the issues would be resolved soon.
“I also want to use this opportunity to acknowledge the challenges that we are currently facing as a nation and assure you that my team and I are working tirelessly to ensure we can restore our economic fortunes within the shortest possible time so that you are at least guaranteed a comfortable and secure retirement,” he said.
Touching on the concerns of pensioner bondholders, the minister said it was imperative to recognise that senior citizens were an integral part of the community and ensure that they were not pushed into unnecessary hardships in the future.
“Through your hard work and dedication, you have helped to build our nation into a prosperous country. Your contributions have not gone unnoticed, and I am grateful for all that you have done and continue to do,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.
Gratitude
The Convener of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum, Dr Adu Anane Antwi, for his part, expressed the appreciation of members of the forum to the government for the assurance.
“Our mission here is to express our sincere thanks to the minister for granting us our request. We have received our letter,” he said.
The letter, in part stated that: “government wants to state categorically that all pensioner bondholders who opted not to participate in the exercise are exempted from the DDEP.”
Exemption
On December 5, 2022, the government launched the DDEP, an invitation for the voluntary exchange of approximately GH¢137 billion of the domestic notes and bonds, including ESLA and Daakye bonds, for a package of new bonds.
Right after the announcement, labour groups called on the government to exempt pension funds from the programme.
Although the government agreed and exempted them, other groups, including individual bondholders and holders of bonds who are on retirement joined calls for exemption too.
The exemption granted the individual pensioner bondholders from the DDEP follows several calls by the holders to be exempted from the “voluntary” programme.
Engaging the public under the Pensioner Bondholders Forum, the group of retired individuals started picketing the Ministry of Finance on February 6, this year to demand their exclusion from the programme.
After days of protesting, the government held closed-door meetings with representatives of the group where it was agreed that they would be exempted.
A letter to that effect was written on Wednesday, a day before the Finance Minister briefed Parliament on the DDEP last Thursday.