The Pensioner Bondholders Forum will, from today, resume their picketing at the Ministry of Finance for payments of their matured bonds.
The Forum explains that the government has not paid their matured coupons and principals for more than two months.
Speaking to Citi News on the protest, Convenor for the group, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi said the government’s silence compelled the group to return to the Finance Ministry to picket.
“We are fighting for exemptions, we have been exempted, and now we are not being paid. We are fighting for coupons and payments. From March 1, some people said they have received their coupons on the first one while others said on the 5th one. We don’t know which ones they are paying. If they had started paying March 3 and March 5 that is the payment they have started paying. From that time will be about two months and over in arrears. They haven’t said anything and that is the worrying situation,” he lamented.
The government has failed to meet its obligations to pensioner bondholders who were exempted from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme and to individual bondholders who did not participate in the scheme.
Relatedly, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pleaded for help from Japan for Ghana to get its bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The president appealed during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Jubilee House in Accra.
President Akufo-Addo said Japan, a member of the Paris Club, has a major role to play in Ghana securing the deal from the IMF.
Ghana can only get the deal after securing the needed financing assurances from the gold, oil and cocoa-producing country’s bilateral partners, most of them being members of the Paris Club.
“Ghana is also counting on the support of Japan in reaching a favorable agreement with the International Monetary Fund which will pave the way for the robust recovery of Ghana’s economy,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Meanwhile, the London-based Economic Intelligence Unit has predicted that the board of the International Monetary Fund is likely to approve the US$3 billion extended credit facility for Ghana by mid-2022.
In its latest report, the EIU explained that the delay would be caused by prolonged negotiations in relation to the restructuring of Ghana’s external debt between the country and its bilateral partners.
Pulse
