Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, who is the leader of the minority in Parliament, has said that the government’s domestic debt exchange program puts 17 banks in the country at risk.

In his view, the program will simply pass the burden for the government’s bankruptcy on to private citizens and companies, especially banks.

Pensioner bondholders have been protesting outside the Finance Ministry demanding an exemption from the debt exchange program, and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has been called to Parliament to brief lawmakers on the situation.

In a debate about the program in Parliament, Ato Forson warned that it would cause widespread poverty in Ghana and put some banks out of business.

He said “17 banks in the country are at risk as a result of the domestic debt exchange programme,”

Speaking to Parliament, Ofori-Atta confirmed that all pensioners who did not exchange their old bonds for new ones as part of the program would be exempted.

He assured the pensioners that they have nothing to worry about, saying that all coupons and principals will be paid in full when the time comes.

He revealed that the program was successful even though it was met with resistance in Ghana, citing the 1,300 pensioners and individual bondholders who voluntarily enrolled in the scheme.

Ofori-Atta also disclosed that out of a total of GH97,749,624,691 in old bonds that could have been swapped, GH82,994,510,128 were successfully exchanged.

According to him, this represents a success rate of 84.91 percent, well above the target of 80 percent.

The Speaker of Parliament, however, has warned Ofori-Atta not to touch pensioners’ money and that the current economic crisis doesn’t need the money of pensioners to be fixed.

Source – Tru News Report

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