Akufo-Addo hopeful of agreement with stakeholders ahead of DDE expiration

Government’s deadline for bondholders to sign on to the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) Programme expires on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

In its quest to further engage with stakeholders, especially individual bondholders, government for the fourth time extended the deadline for the Programme from January 31 to February 7, 2023, introducing new terms.

In its new terms, government says all individual bondholders who are below the age of 59 years will be offered instruments with maximum maturity of five years, instead of 15 years, and a 10% coupon rate; while retirees including those retiring in 2023 will be offered instruments with maximum maturity of five years, instead of 15 years, and a 15% coupon rate.

Government is hoping for an 80% subscription to the programme as it structures domestic debt to achieve 55% debt-to-GDP ratio by 2028, as part of efforts to secure a 3 billion dollar bailout from the IMF.

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has noted that despite the initial resistance by some stakeholders involved in the Domestic Debt Exchange programme, government is gradually getting the support of all.

Nana Akufo-Addo says the successful implementation of the programme will ensure that Ghana gets the balance of payment support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by March 2023.

The President spoke at a meeting with the visiting German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner.

“One of the steps in the domestic debt exchange is, unfortunately, facing some difficulties, so it has not been concluded. As quickly as possible we are looking at the committee to ensure that all the stakeholders are well engaged”, he said.

The deadline for the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme has been set for Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

The groups of Individual bondholders have also kicked against their inclusion in the government’s domestic debt exchange programme.

Organized labour on Wednesday, February 1, also reiterated its resistance against the government’s domestic debt exchange programme and assured that any attempts to repackage the programme to include pension funds will be fiercely rejected.