DDEP: All Pensioners Who Did Not Participate In The Bond Offering Are Exempted – Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has said all pensioners who did not participate in the bond offering are exempted from the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday (16 February), Ofori-Atta said, “In seeking to understand the concerns of our senior citizens, I have met with them on three occasions; the most recent was 15 February 2023 where I explained the terms of the new bonds.

“Mr Speaker, I subsequently wrote to their convener that all pensioners who did not participate in the bond offering are exempted,” he added.

Members of the pensioner bondholders’ forum have been picketing the Ministry of Finance to demand total exemption of their investments from the debt swap.

Ghana’s former chief justice Sophia Akuffo on Friday (10 February) joined a picket line of pensioners who have been staging protests at the Finance Ministry, demanding that the government exempt them from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

Earlier, Ofori-Atta pleaded with members of the pensioner bondholders’ forum to accept the new terms of a 15% coupon rate and 5% maturity rate for the government Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP)

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday (16 February), the Finance Minister said the government remains committed to the wellbeing and diginity of senior citizens and pensioners.