Haircut Speculation Badly Affected Economy – Boako

Speculations about a possible haircut in Ghana due to the ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) badly affected Ghana’s economy, Spokesperson of the Vice President, Dr Gideon Boako, has said.

Following the speculation, he said, there was mud rush for Dollar assets and hard currency Dollar because people were not sure if their investments were going to be touched.

President  Akufo-Addo on Sunday October 30 assured that no investor will lose his or her money including pensions funds, government treasury bills or instruments if Ghana finally seals a deal with the IMF.

Mr Akufo-Addo noted that some members of the public have concerns that they will lose their investments if the deal with the Fund is closed,

But delivering an address to the nation Mr Akufo-Addo allayed the fears saying, just as customers’ deposits were saved during the banking sector clean up exercise, no one will lose money in this also.

He said “There will be no ‘haircuts’, so I urge all of you to ignore the false rumours, just as, in the banking sector clean-up, Government ensured that the 4.6 million depositors affected by the exercise did not lose their deposits.

“I also want to assure all Ghanaians that no individual or institutional investor, including pension funds, in Government treasury bills or instruments will lose their money, as a result of our ongoing IMF negotiations.”

Commenting on this on TV3’s Big Issue with Roland Walker on Wednesday November 2,  Dr Boako described the President’s assurance as apt.

He said “everybody wanted information, people wanted to be clear because of the uncertainties. We wanted to know how the haircut was going to be, is there going to even be a haircut? Is it going to affect treasury bills? Is it going to affect government bonds?

“That kind of speculation has really affected the economy. You saw the mud rush for Dollar assets and hard currency Dollar because people were not sure if their investments in government were going to be affected. I think the President’s statement was an emphatic statement after cabinet meeting, it really was apt in saying that there is not going to be any haircut on treasury bills.”