The domestic debt exchange program (DDEP), according to former president John Dramani Mahama,is being used by the governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to hide his alleged mismanagement of the central bank.
These statements from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Flagbearer came after the Bank of Ghana (BoG) explained that the government’s efforts to restructure domestic debt, which included both phases, were the primary cause of a sizeable portion of the GH53.1 billion in losses it reported in the 2022 financial results, amounting to a loss of GH60 billion.
The BoG highlighted in a statement issued on Wednesday [Aug 9] that the domestic debt exchange (DDE), a critical component of the corrective plan stipulated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, did not meet the expected objectives. The goal had been to reduce the stock of government debt by half, from 105 percent of GDP to 55 percent of GDP by 2028.
“Despite the negative effects on households and banks, the targeted threshold of 55 per cent of GDP was not reached. The Bank of Ghana played a role in bridging this gap to enable Ghana to meet the debt threshold that qualified the country for the IMF program. Consequently, the Bank of Ghana absorbed the associated losses”BOG stated.
Reacting on August 10 in a Facebook post, the former President accused Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of adversely impacting the economy while leveraging Covid-19 and the Ukraine/Russia conflict as distractions.
Furthermore, Mahama asserted that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison had caused damage to the central bank and was now utilizing the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) to divert attention from the central bank’s deterioration.
An inept Finance Minister undermines the economy and resorts to Covid-19 and the Ukraine/Russia conflict as diversions. A compliant Governor undermines the Central Bank’s integrity and turns to the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) as a façade”,he said.
