Ghana: Domestic Debt Exchange Programme – Govt to Pay Bondholders in 48 HRs – Finance Ministry

The Ministry of Finance says it has commenced processes to settle payments on out­standing bonds.

To this end, it has assured bondholders whose coupons and principals matured on February 6 and 13 this year to expect payment within the next 48 hours.

This was contained in a state­ment issued by the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry in Accra yesterday.

“The initial instruction covers coupon and principal payments on bonds that matured on February 6, 2023, and February 13, 2023.

“Holders of the afore-listed bonds should therefore expect to receive their payments within the next 48 hours,” the statement noted.

It said payment dates for subsequent maturities would be communicated in due course, as the processing continues.

The Ministry expressed grati­tude to all stakeholders for their forbearance during the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DEP) and subsequent administrative processes.

It would be recalled that the Ministry in February announced that it would pay all bondholders who opted out of the Voluntary Domestic Debt Exchange pro­gramme their coupons and princi­pals by March 13.

However, the government failed to pay all coupons and maturing principals on the deadline, a situ­ation which alarmed the Coalition of Individual Bondholder Groups to issue the Ministry of Finance a 48-hour ultimatum to pay all matured principal and outstanding coupons due on the existing bonds issued by the Government of Ghana.

In a statement signed in Accra yesterday, the group, comprising the Individual Bond Holders As­sociation of Ghana and Individual Bond Holders Forum respectively, pledged to fight to ensure the full payment of investors’ monies and the preservation of the securities markets for the future generation.

It further urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to enforce the rules of full disclosure required by all issuers including the Government of Ghana.

“We are giving a 48-hour ultimatum to the Ministry of Finance to honour its word to pay all matured principal and outstand­ing coupons due on the existing bonds issued by the Government of Ghana.

We call on the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ghana Stock Exchange to enforce the rules of full disclosure required by all issuers including the Gov­ernment of Ghana,” the statement added.

The coalition accused Mr Ofori-Atta of disregarding all the basic rules that have been estab­lished to protect the integrity of the local markets and maintain sovereign credibility for Ghana.

The coalition also expressed concern about the failure of SEC to protect investors and market integrity, as it was mandated to do.

Also, it said the Ghana Fixed Income Market of the Ghana Stock Exchange, where the old Government of Ghana bonds are listed and traded have also not en­forced its basic rules of disclosure required by issuers.

Furthermore, it warned of the fading away of the little confidence remaining in the market.

The coalition warned that the confidence remaining in the mar­kets as a result of assurances from the Ministry of Finance was fading away.