John A. Kumah
A Deputy Minister for Finance, John A. Kumah has reassured Ghanaians that Treasury bill holders and Treasury bondholders will be exempted from the government’s debt exchange programme.
According to him, T-bill holders and T-bill bondholders were exempted from the government’s debt exchange programme.
Mr. John Kumah gave the assurance to calm the nerves of investors who have been in panic mode since the announcement of ‘haircuts’ on interests and principals of some bondholders of the government’s debt operation programme.
Mr. Kumah stressed the fact that their exemption was necessary to ensure that government can raise domestic financing to fund their projects following Ghana’s forced exit from the international bond market.
“The debt exchange programme seeks to protect certain categories of investors and T-bills or Treasury bill holders and then also treasury bondholders, individual bondholders are all exempted from this debt exchange programme.
“Of course, you know we’ve been cut off from the international capital market so we can’t do any external financing and for government to be able to raise domestic financing you will have to protect a certain category and that’s why the treasury bill is exempted from this programme.”
He noted that despite the difficult economic situation the country finds itself in, the government will continue to engage in Treasury bills.
He said T-bills and T-bill bonds will continue to be on sale to the general public and the government will continue to pay them their interests and principals at maturity without any haircuts whatsoever.
“Everything treasury bill is preserved,” he said.
-BY Daniel Bampoe