Govt will struggle to find alternatives for Pension fund exemption – Joe Jackson

The Director of Operations at Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, says the government’s debt restructuring programme will be doomed if an immediate alternative is not found to replace the pension fund which has been exempted.

The government on Thursday succumbed to pressure from organised labour and exempted pension funds from the debt exchange programme. Organised Labour had threatened to embark on an indefinite strike if the government did not meet their demand.

Addressing the media after signing a memorandum of understanding between the government and organised labour, Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah said government and the organised labour will work together to resolve all issues to make the programme successful towards the restoration of macroeconomic stability of the country.

In reaction to the move by the government, Mr Jackson said there is no local option to replace the pension funds, but the government can turn to the external bondholders for help.

“I don’t think on the domestic front, there is going to be an alternative, the programme has been announced, the deadline is looming and so this exemption of pension funds will just leave a hole in domestic debt sustainability,” Mr Jackson said on Eyewitness News on Thursday.

He added “the hole must now be transferred, possibly, to the external front by negotiating harder or offering a severer cut or reductions. It is hard for me to see how they can transfer this to another local constituency…I suspect they will transfer their attention to the foreign debt holders and if that fails then we are in trouble.”

Meanwhile, organised labour has called off its intended strike which was slated for December 27, 2022.

This industrial action was to demand the exemption of pension funds of its workers in the ongoing debt exchange program.

At a press conference, Secretary General of the Trade Unions Congress (TUC), Dr Yaw Baah said the decision to call off the strike follows the consensus reached with the government.

“We are pleased that after a very extensive engagement with the government, it has now exempted all pension funds from the domestic exchange program. We have now signed an MoU. We thank the government for listening to us. So, on the 27th of December, nobody should stay at home because our demands and conditions have been met. So we are all going to work. No one should stay home.”