By Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA
Accra, Feb 16, GNA – Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, Thursday said all pensioners who failed to tender their old bonds for new ones under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) have been exempted.
Giving a policy brief on the DDPE on the floor of Parliament, Mr Ofori-Atta assured the pensioners not to be worried as their coupons would be honoured when maturity was due.
“The Government remains committed to the well-being of our senior citizens. It has caused me great distress that several pensioner bondholders have picketed at the premises of the Finance Ministry since Monday. I have said that government will honour their coupons…all pensioners who didn’t participate in the debt exchange are exempted,” he stated.
The pensioners had, for the past four days, been picketing at the Finance Ministry in demand of a total exemption from government’s DDEP.
The group had also said they would continue to picket at the Finance Ministry until the Government listened to their demand by officially communicating to them that their investments had been exempted from the DDEP.
Mr Ofori-Atta’s brief was necessitated by a directive by Speaker Alban Sumana Bagbin to the Business Committee of the House to summon the Finance Minister to give a policy brief on the programme due to the ongoing picketing at the Finance Ministry by Pensioner Bondholders Forum for an exemption from the programme.
Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Vice Chairman of the Business Committee, presenting the Business Statement of Parliament last Friday, said the Minister needed to appear before Parliament to provide answers to questions raised by constituents of Members of Parliament.
“Mr Speaker, on the issue of the DDEP, under your directive, we engaged the Finance Minister, and we have his assurance to be here on Thursday, February 16, 2023,” he said.
The Finance Minister, in a statement to confirm the official closing of the Exchange Programme on Monday, February 13, revealed that it had successfully swapped GH₵82,994,510,128 worth of old bonds from a possible GH₵ 97,749,624,691 under the DDEP.
He said the amount represented an 84.91 per cent success rate exceeding the intended target of an 80 per cent participation rate.
GNA