The Minister of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has exempted Individual Pensioners Bondholders and others from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, DDEP.
The Minister announced this when he briefed Parliament on the DDEP, today, February 16, 2023.
“Mr. Speaker, Government remains committed to the well-being and dignity of our Senior Citizens and Pensioners. Indeed, it has personally caused me great distress as a number of them have picketed at the premises of the Ministry of Finance since Monday, 6th February 2023. As I have already indicated in my Press Release dated 14th February 2023, Government will honour their coupon payments and maturing principals, like all Government bonds, in line with Government’s Fiscal commitments” the Finance Minister said.
“Mr. Speaker, in seeking to understand the concerns of our Senior Citizens, I have met with them on three occasions. The most recent was yesterday 15th February, 2022, where I explained the terms of the new bonds. Mr. Speaker, I subsequently wrote to their Convener, letting him know that all pensioners who did not participate in the exchange are exempted and therefore there will be no need for our Senior Citizens to picket at the Finance Ministry. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all those who helped in those discussions” he added.
