The government of Ghana has stated that it has exceeded the 80% target for the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP).
The program is one of the conditions for Ghana to receive a $3 billion economic bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to sources close to the program’s development team, the target was met on Friday, February 10th, 2023.
This week, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to make an official announcement about how the program fared.
Government was able to achieve the target despite the exclusion of the Pension Funds from the programme.
“The programme was largely successful due to significant participation by institutional bondholders in the offer like the major banks, insurance firms and securities industry players,” a source told Joy Business.
Despite the protests by Individual Boldholders Forum, it has been confirmed that some individual bondholders voluntarily participated in it.
The government is expected to provide details on the percentage of individual bondholders who participated after the official announcement.
The settlement of the exchange is scheduled for Tuesday, 14th February 2023.
If the government successfully closes all DDEP deals, it will pave the way for the process of external debt restructuring, which is unlikely to face stiff opposition.
Background
After postponing the deadline for the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme more than three times, the government announced another extension to complete administrative tasks which ended on Friday 10th February,2023.
The Finance Ministry noted that the objective of the Domestic Depth Exchange programme is to ensure that individuals, especially retirees, who put their hard earned savings in the domestic market, are not left in hardship as a result of the programme.
