Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George Nartey, has questioned the integrity of Ghana’s president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, over his assurance on ‘haircuts’ in the financial sector.
The NDC legislature, has described the office of the president as a barbering shop, shaping out citizen’s savings and investments.
It can be recalled that, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, refuted suggestions, that his government would buy off government bonds at rates lower than their expected returns, i.e., ‘haircut’ on Government bonds.
Addressing the nation on measures being taken by the government to rescue the economy on Sunday, October 31, Akufo- Addo said, “I also want to assure all Ghanaians that, no individual or institutional investor including pension funds, government treasury bills or instruments will lose their money, as a result of our ongoing IMF negotiations”.
On the back of this claim by the president, the finance ministry announced in a released dated 24th November 2022, that, government is looking into the possibility of conducting a debt operation, that will cover the terms of payments of principal and interest on public debts (government bonds) – ‘Haircut’.
The ministry indicated that, the move will help reduce the pressure on government’s budget and also make the nation’s debts sustainable.
As part of the debt restructuring for domestic bondholders in terms of interest payments, bondholders will receive zero interest rates in 2023, 5% interest in 2024, and 10% interest in 2025.
In addition to this, government is set to extend the tenure of all maturing bonds by 10 years.
This came up during a recent meeting between Ken Ofori Atta, government officials, and heads of banking institutions in the country.
The measures taken by the government on possible ‘haircut’ has infuriated the Ningo Prampram MP who wonders why the president will assure Ghanaians that there wouldn’t be any ‘haircut ‘and do otherwise.
He has described the office of the presidency as a barbering shop which gives ‘haircut’ to its citizens in a Twitter post sighted by GhanaWeb.
“Wait! I thought President Nana Akufo- Addo assured Ghanaians that there would be NO haircut! Did he lie? Was he lied to?
“The seat of the presidency is now a barbershop giving haircuts to citizen’s savings and investments,” his post read.
