The Government has expressed appreciation to ghanaians for their forbearance and support throughout the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) phase.
The Government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) closed on Friday, February 10, 2023 with over 80% participation of eligible bonds.
In a release by the ministry of information, government reiterates that:
a. That from the onset of the DDEP to its closure on Friday 10 February 2023, the participation in the programme was voluntary.
b. Having in mind that the entire exercise was voluntary, all throughout the exercise, Government always affirmed that crucial fact “that individual Bondholders are free not to participate”. Thus, the right of the individual to self-exempt was never in doubt.
c. However, under the circumstances, Government at the same time, always made a strong but humble appeal to bondholders to participate in the DDEP: seeing it as a very critical act of burden-sharing in the ongoing national effort to tackle the economic crisis, bring back macroeconomic stability and guarantee sustainable growth and prosperity for the people of Ghana.
d. Government in addition, offered alternatives to encourage individual bondholders and retirees to tender for the new bonds which will have wider secondary market circulation. The Government is grateful to those who took part in the advocacy in securing an improved offer for participants.
The statement said government assures all individual bondholders who opted not to participate in the program that their coupon payments and maturing principals, like all Government bonds, will be honoured in line with Government fiscal commitments.
According to the statement, the DDEP is being done to help protect the economy and enhance our capacity to service our public debts effectively. The alternative of not executing the DDEP would have brought grave disorder in the servicing of our national debt and exacerbated the current economic crisis. The Government is, therefore, grateful for the overwhelming participation of all bondholders. Your support and contributions have gotten your country much closer to securing the IMF programme”.
“The Ministry of Finance has also taken note of all additional input made by various stakeholders during the DDEP engagement to further streamline Government’s expenditures. We wish to assure Ghanaians of our full commitment to addressing these issues:, it added.
