The National Chairman of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Nana Ofori Owusu, has berated Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta for his debt restructuring proposal for government bondholders.
Speaking in a Peace FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Nana Ofori said that because of Ofori-Atta's reckless borrowing, the country's debt level is now worse than when Ghana was classified as a Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) during the era of former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
He added that after borrowing the country to its death, Ofori-Atta is now shifting the burden of repaying the monies he borrowed to feature generations.
"Ken Ofori, through his actions, has brought unprecedented hardships to Ghanaians. Our debt-to-GDP ratio is over 100 percent worse than the HIPC proportion.
"Now, that man in white has shifted everything to the next two decades of government for them to pay back all the monies he has borrowed. He has put the burden on future governments," he said in Twi.
The PPP chairman said that the economic situation in the country has gotten to a point where heads must roll.
He, therefore, called for a total scrubbing of the current Economic Management Team of the country which is headed by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
"With the situation we find ourselves in, all the members of the Economic Management Team must resign," he said.
The Minister of Finance announced a number of measures under the government's Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) programme late Sunday.
He stated in a 4-minute address that the announcement was in line with the government's Debt Sustainability Analysis as contained in the 2023 budget he presented to Parliament on November 24.
The Minister laid out, among others, the exchange of existing domestic bonds with four new ones, as well as their maturity dates and terms of coupon payments.
He also addressed the overarching goal of the government relative to its engagements with the International Monetary Fund as well as measures to minimize the impact of domestic bond exchange on different stakeholders.
"The Government of Ghana has been working hard to minimize the impact of the domestic debt exchange on investors holding government bonds, particularly small investors, individuals, and other vulnerable groups," he said, before outlining three main measures:
• Treasury Bills are completely exempted and all holders will be paid the full value of their investments on maturity.
• There will be NO haircut on the principal of bonds.
• Individual holders of bonds will not be affected.
Watch the video below:
Watch the second part of Elvis Afriyie Ankrah's interview on GhanaWeb TV below:
Also watch the nomination for the GhanaWeb Excellence Awards Youth Edition below:
