Accra, Ghana, 14th February, 2023……The Government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) closed on Friday 10th February 2023 with over 80% participation of eligible bonds. The Government wants to thank the people of Ghana for their forbearance and support throughout these very difficult times.
The Government wishes to reiterate the following:
- That from the onset of the DDEP to its closure on Friday 10th February 2023, the participation in the programme was voluntary.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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 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.