Ghana government pledges to honour all maturing bonds as DDE hits 80% participation 

The Ghana government has assured all bondholders, including pensioners, that it will honour all coupon payments and maturing principals when due as more than 80 per cent bondholders participated in its $137 billion Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). 

The assurance comes amid recent fears by individual bondholders who had called for exemption from the programme, especially pensioners who picketed at the premises of the Finance Ministry to drum home their demand. 

The government, through the Finance Ministry, announced in a release issued to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday that “the DDEP closed on Friday February 10, 2023, with over 80 per cent participation of eligible bonds.” 

It then assured to honour all coupon payments and maturing principals in addition to commitments to further streamline government’s expenditures. 

“We would like to stress that, all Individual bondholders, especially our Senior Citizens, should rest assured that their coupon payments and maturing principals, like all government bonds, will be honoured in line with government’s fiscal commitments,” the release said. 

It added that: “The government would like to reassure all individual bondholders who elected not to participate that your coupon payments and maturing principals, like all government bonds, will be honoured in line with government fiscal commitments.” 

The government emphasised that the DDEP had been executed to help protect the economy and enhance Ghana’s capacity to service its public debts effectively, as its debt had become unsustainable. 

It said it was grateful to bondholders for the overwhelming participation, adding that their support and contributions had gotten Ghana much closer to securing the IMF programme.  

Ghana needed about 80 per cent participation in its DDEP to give assurance of its creditors’ support to make its debt sustainable as it seeks a $3 billion loan-support programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

In December last year, Ghana and IMF reached a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about $3 billion. 

The SLA was subject to IMF Management and Executive Board approval and receipt of the necessary financing assurances by Ghana’s partners and creditors, hence, the Government’s launch of the DDEP. 

When secured, the loan-support programme would be implemented in line with the government’s Enhanced Domestic Programme (EDP) – a 3-year fast-tracked macroeconomic stabilisation programme, which is to restore investor confidence and achieve fiscal and debt sustainability. 

The programme would be driven by a mix of robust structural reforms and revenue, expenditure, and financing policies to further enhance economic recovery and transformation efforts under the Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) programme. 

Source: GNA  

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