The Ministry of Finance has issued instructions for the settlement of first matured coupons of bonds under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
In February this year, Government successfully restructured some GH¢87.76 billion of existing bonds to 16 new bonds with varied maturing dates ranging from August 2027 up until August 2038.
It also offered varied interest rates of up between 5% – 15% on the new bonds to be paid semi-annually.
Announcing the payment on its Twitter handle yesterday, the Finance Ministry said the payment was in line with credibility of the Ghana’s domestic debt operation.
“In line with government’s commitment to the continued success and credibility of Ghana’s domestic debt operations, instructions have gone out for the settlement of the GH¢2.4 billion first coupon payment of the DDEP, due today”, the Ministry of Finance tweeted.
In all, the government was expected to settle nearly GH¢2.5 billion to bondholders by the close of yesterday 22 August 2023.
Government assurance
Government, in a statement earlier this year, assured all individual bondholders who did not participate in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) that their coupon payments and maturing principals, would be honoured in line with its fiscal commitments.
“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 ministry stressed.
Giving the assurance in a statement, the Ministry indicated that the “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.”
According to the statement, the Ministry had taken note of all additional suggestions made by various stakeholders during the DDEP engagement to further streamline the government’s expenditure, assuring their full commitment to addressing these issues.
