Minority rejects government’s debt restructuring programme

The minority in parliament has said they will not accept the debt restructuring programme announced by the Finance Minister.

This comes after Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced that Ghana is embarking on a debt exchange program to ensure that debt levels are brought to sustainable levels.

In an update on the economy, the minister said this is to ensure that the country moves to ensure the restoration of macroeconomic stability.

He said, "The Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) demonstrated unequivocally that Ghana’s public debt is unsustainable, and the Government may not be able to fully service its debt down the road if no action is taken."

"Indeed, debt servicing is now absorbing more than half of total government revenues and almost 70% of tax revenues, while our total public debt stock, including that of State-Owned Enterprises and all, exceeds 100% of our GDP. This is why we are today announcing the debt exchange which will help in restoring our capacity to service debt," he added.

But the minority said it will not accept the debt restricting plan.

“Let me state, without any fear of contradiction, that the form and structure of the debt restructuring plan announced by Ken Ofori-Atta are unacceptable to us, and we simply will not accept it,” Haruna Iddrisu said.

He also raised concerns over why the government failed to announce the exchange programme in the budget statement that was presented to parliament.

“How come the contours of this exchange programme were not announced in the budget statement that was presented to Parliament? Were invested consulted, were bondholders consulted, and how did he come to this conclusion?”

NYA/BOG