In the event that the government does not exclude them from the Domestic Debt Exchange Program, the Pensioner Bondholders Forum has vowed to protest in front of the Ministry of Finance on January 23, 2023.
The Forum said that it had written to the Ghana Police Service's District Commander at the Ministries in Accra to inform the police of their proposed course of action.
At a news conference in Accra, Dr. Adu A. Antwi, the convener of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum, stated that the Forum had petitioned the government to exclude its members from the Domestic Debt Exchange Program.
On January 13, 2023, the Forum, according to Dr. Antwi, delivered a petition to Mr. Ken Ofori Atta, the Finance Minister, calling for the exclusion of retirees. The Forum also asked for a meeting with Mr. Ofori Atta, but it was not granted.
The Speaker of Parliament, the Council of State, the National House of Chiefs, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the Chief Imam, the National Peace Council, and the Catholic Bishop's Conference are among the important stakeholders we have petitioned about our displeasure with the situation, he added.
According to Dr. Antwi, the Forum management had asked to speak with Mr. Ofori-Atta before the Debt Exchange Program deadline.
Insisting that "We are not tendering in our bonds," he reassured the retirees that the Forum will work with the government to fix the problem.
The Convener warned that the lives of the seniors would be severely affected if the government did not exempt their bonds.
The Ghanaian government invited bondholders to voluntarily swap about GH137 billion in domestic notes and bonds of the Republic, including ESLA and Daakye, for a bundle of new bonds when it unveiled Ghana's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme last year.
Starting a result, as of December 1, 2022, current domestic bonds were to be exchanged for a group of four new bonds with maturities in 2027, 2029, 2032, and 2037.
All of these new bonds will have yearly coupons that are 0% in 2023, 5% in 2024, and 10% from 2025 until maturity.
Semi-annual coupon payments will be made.
The deadline for the Domestic Debt Exchange has been extended to January 31, according to a statement on the Ministry of Finance website posted on Monday.
"Building agreement is essential to Ghana's economic revival," it said. The government has extended the program's expiry date to January 31, 2023, pending more stakeholder engagement with institutional and individual investors who have recently been asked to participate in the debt swap scheme.
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