All outstanding coupons to be paid after February 21 – Ofori-Atta

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has assured that all matured coupons will be honoured after Tuesday, February 21, 2023.

Mr Ofori-Atta noted that the processing of coupon payments on bonds had been delayed due to the settlement period for the domestic debt exchange programme.

Making the disclosure when the Pensioner Bondholders Forum called on him to express gratitude for their exemption from the domestic debt exchange programme, the Finance Minister said the government is working to ensure that every bondholder is paid their dividends upon maturity of their bonds.

Groups including the Individual Bondholders Forum had threatened to start picketing at the Black Star Square commencing on February 20 until the government honoured its obligations to bondholders by paying their matured coupons.

But the Finance Minister assured that “settlements will be made after Tuesday, and then we can begin to look at processing everybody’s [bonds]”.

He, therefore, assured all the concerned groups that every single coupon will be paid and called for calm.

“But let nobody have any inkling that anybody is going to be punished for whatever reason. All coupons will be attended to the same way in which the contracts were signed. We are in a difficult situation, that is why we are doing the debt exchange programme and so we hope that the percentage of bonds signed onto the programme will bring down our interest on debts and give us the fiscal space to honour whatever commitments we have with our bonds.”