Emmanuel Amoah Darkwa, a Chartered Economist, has warned that implementing the Debt Exchanger Programme in its current form could have serious consequences for the financial sector.

According to the economist, the current state of the exchange programme, if not reviewed, could have consequences for the banking, insurance, and pension sectors, as well as individuals.

It appears that the government is hesitant to implement serious fiscal reforms. We advised you to reduce the size of the government, but you refused. “How can people help you?”

He lamented that if the debt exchange programme is implemented in its current form, the consequences for the banking sector, insurance, and pensions, as well as individuals, would be worse than the banking sector clean-up.

He urged the government to take steps to engage widely with all stakeholders in order to avoid creating new problems while attempting to solve existing ones.

“The government should conduct broad consultations on the issue. The top-down approach isn’t working. It should be done from the bottom up. Consult banks, insurance companies, pension funds, and asset managers. The system will not benefit from the current format. The outcome will be disastrous. We should recall that the banking sector collapsed in 2017 and 2018, causing people to lose their investments and savings. People have not been able to recoup their investments. We should be mindful of recent history and follow its lead,” he added.