Parliament was not presented with details of DDEP – Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

Majority Leader in parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has disclosed that the House was not presented with details of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) before the announcement by the Finance Minister [Ken Ofori-Atta] on December 5, 2022.

According to him, although there were engagements on the domestic economy, Parliament was not furnished with the fine details contained in the debt exchange programme which forms part of the debt restructuring exercise mooted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“There were meetings before the budget came to be consummated and later on presented by the Finance Minister. So we had broad discussions, but the details were not known to us at the time, but some consultations went on as to where exactly we were as a nation. But I am not too sure that this matter came up for discussion maybe the broad strokes were mentioned but not the details,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said speaking on Accra-based Citi FM.

As part of efforts to secure an IMF bailout and address the country’s unsustainable debt situation, government launched the DDEP inviting bondholders to voluntarily exchange approximately GH¢137 billion domestic notes and bonds of the Republic including ESLA and Daakye for a package of new bonds.

Meanwhile, various groups of bondholders have called on their members to reject government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme due to a lack of broader consultations and negotiations.

MA/FNOQ