Pensioner bondholders have served notice that they would converge at the Ministry of Finance on January 23, 2023, if the finance minister does not honour their invitation for a broader stakeholder engagement.
The forum, led by Dr. Adu A. Antwi stated that a petition has been sent to the finance minister to exclude them from the programme and protect their pensions but all efforts to reach the minister have been unsuccessful.
According to him, the convergence at the ministry is to register their displeasure over their inclusion in the debt exchange programme.
Speaking to journalists on January 16, 2023, he said “If, by January 23, there is no response from the Finance Minister, about 50 of us will converge at the Ministry. A lot of us would have loved to be there but some of us are weak and we cannot even stand for long.”
He noted that the pensioners still maintain their stance on their exclusion from the programme despite the deadline of January 16, 2023.
Meanwhile, the deadline has been extended by the governemnt to January 31, 2023 for broader stakeholder consensus to be made.
On January 16, 2023, the finance minister announced, “Building consensus is key to a successful economic recovery for Ghana. Pending further stakeholder engagement with institutional and individual investors recently invited to join the debt exchange programme, the government is extending the DDE expiration to Jan 31, 2023.”
The government announced the inclusion of individual bondholders in the debt exchange programme. But the bondholders have noted that this will not be in their best interest and may lead to a depletion of their investments.
SSD/FNOQ
