The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has rejected the government’s debt exchange programme.
The Association says government denying pensioners access to their tier 3 funds after 5-15 years of waiting for maturity on their investments is unacceptable.
In a statement signed by the President of GRNMA, Perpetual Ofori Ampofo, the group described the debt exchange program as unfair, since their pensioners will bear the brunt of the government’s fiscal indiscipline through the debt exchange programme.
“The leadership of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) wishes to register its dismay and disappointment at the proposed debt exchange programme as announced by the Minister of Finance on December 5, 2022.”
“It is unacceptable that a government that budgets 18% inflation in 2023 will consider zero interest for pension funds of poor, hardworking, law-abiding citizens within the same period.”
This comes following the government’s move to rely on a softer payment plan with institutions and individuals who have lent money to the country as part of efforts to reduce the burden the public debt stock puts on the economy.
The plan, which is in line with the government’s commitment to restore macroeconomic stability in the shortest possible time, involves the swapping of existing domestic bonds with longer-dated bonds that will take between four and 14 years to mature in 2037.
Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta announcing the programme said Ghana is facing a very challenging economic situation amid an increasingly difficult global economic environment, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economic shock created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and disruptions of the global supply chains.
“Under the domestic bonds exchange programme, domestic bondholders will be asked to exchange their instruments for new ones. Existing domestic bonds as of 1st December 2022 will be exchanged for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032 and 2037.
“The annual coupon on all these bonds will be set at zero percent in 2023, 5 percent in 2024 and 10 percent from 2025 until maturity… In line with this, treasury bills are completely exempted, and all holders will be paid the full value of their investments on maturity. There will be no haircuts on the principal of bonds, and individual holders of bonds will also not be affected.” the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in a public address on Sunday, December 4, 2022.
