Ghana: Debt Trade Programme Prolonged to December Ending

The expiration date of the Debt Trade Programme (DEP) has been prolonged to the top of December this 12 months, the Ministry of Finance, has introduced.

It mentioned in view of the of the festive season, the federal government had determined to increase the Expiration Date of the voluntary supply to Friday December 30, 2022, with a contemplated settlement date on Friday January sixth, 2023.

The voluntary programme ought to have expired as we speak December 19, 2022.

A press release issued by the Ministry of Finance in Accra on Saturday and copied to the Ghanaian Occasions, mentioned “During the last ten days, we contin-ued the session efforts that we initiated with all stakeholders forward of the launching of the supply, in-cluding regulators, bankers, pension funds, asset managers, insurance coverage firms.”

It mentioned the Ministry totally consid-ered suggestions from the monetary sector in relation to the necessity to safe inner and Govt Board approvals which had been obligatory con-siderations for his or her participation within the Trade, including that in some situations might require emergency board conferences.

“The extension additionally affords Gov-ernment of Ghana the chance to contemplate solutions made by all stakeholders with the purpose of adjusting sure measures accept-able inside the constraints of the Debt Sustainability Evaluation,” the assertion, mentioned.

The Ministry of Finance mentioned it believed the extension would pro-vide sufficient time for the mandatory consultations and evaluation to be accomplished to satisfy the expectations of native and international institutional bondholders whereas preserving the integrity of the Debt Sustainabil-ity Evaluation and the Workers Stage Settlement.

The assertion mentioned the govern-ment was working with the Financial institution of Ghana and different regulators such because the Safety and Trade Fee, Nationwide Pensions Regulatory Authority and the Nationwide Insurance coverage Fee) within the monetary sector, our advisors and together with enter from varied establishments and the Unions.

December 6, 2022 the home debt operation (which is formally known as the Invitation to Trade) was launched as a part of measures to revive the mac-roeconomic stability in view of the nation’s rising debt.

The extension comes on the heels of the announcement of the SLA with the Internation-al Financial Fund (IMF) on December 13, 2022, for a $3 billion Prolonged Credit score Facility over a three-year interval to pro-mote macroeconomic stability of the nation.

The SLA is critical since it’s primarily based on the IMF Man-agement and Govt Board’s choice on whether or not to approve or reject Ghana’s programme with the Fund.

The federal government in June this 12 months engaged the IMF for a programme to revive macroeconomic stability in view of the nation’s rising public debt which had reached unsustainable ranges per Debt Sustainability Evaluation conduct-ed by the federal government.