The Minority in Parliament has described government’s debt exchange programme as unacceptable.
Government has slashed interest payments for domestic bondholders to zero percent in 2023 and pegged 2024 interest payments at 5 per cent.
It has, however, announced that there will be no haircut on the principal of bonds, adding that individuals with government bonds will have their full investments upon maturity.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta made the announcement at a press conference but the Minority in Parliament is concerned about the government’s latest move.
They say it is an imposition and, therefore, they are kicking against it.
“We expect major expenditure cuts to achieve fiscal consolidation. The size of Government must be reduced drastically. We demand responsible spending,” Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu said at a press conference on Monday, 5 December 2022.
Below are details of the press statement:
STATEMENT READ BY MINORITY LEADER, HON. HARUNA IDDRISU ON 2023 BUDGET AND DEBT TREATMENT PLAN BY THE AKUFO-ADDO/BAWUMIA GOVERNMENT
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the press.
We welcome you all to this press encounter, prompted by some very disturbing and urgent developments on the economy. Our economy is indeed in crisis.
As is now trite knowledge, the Ghanaian economy has been terribly mismanaged in the last five to six years by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration leading to our request for a 17th IMF program to renew confidence and policy credibility on our failing economy despite haughty initial denials.
The severely ailing economy has been characterized by unsustainable debt, very high inflation, unprecedented and disastrous depreciation of the cedi, high budget deficits and unprecedented credit rating downgrades.
The economic situation is so bad that we are currently ranked side by side with Sri Lanka, which is considered the worst economy in the world and has defaulted on its debt.
Our public debt hovers above the GHS 500 billion mark with a corresponding debt to GDP ratio of about 105% having inherited a total public debt of GHC120billion in 2017.
Inflation for the month of October is 40.4% and is destined to rise for the month of November. The cedi has lost 54% of its value in the last ten months alone.
The combined effect of these grim macro-economic indices has been devastation and disappointment for Ghanaians and households.