The reduction in rate of treasury bills from 35 to 24 percent is as a result of the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange programme, says the Deputy Minister of Finance John Kumah.[ads2]
According to him, the government’s DDEP is yielding positive results for economic stability.
This comes after President Akufo-Addo in his state of the nation address on Wednesday made mention of the positives the country will derive from the programme.
Explaining what the programme intends to do for the country in future, John Kumah said,”last week, the treasury bill rate in the country was at 35 percent. Today as we speak, the treasury bill rate has been reduced to 24 percent because of the DDEP.[ads3]
“We had oversubscription and even at 24 percent, there is an oversubscription of 121 percent. We are going to see a further reduction in the coupon rate of T-Bills. What that portends for our country in future is that inflation will come down, cost of borrowing for the private will also go down and this will restore economic stability and inclusive growth of our economy.”
The DDEP closed on Friday 10th February 2023 with over 80% participation of eligible bonds.
The DDEP to its closure on Friday 10th February 2023, the participation in the programme was voluntary.[ads4]
Having in mind that the entire exercise was voluntary, all throughout the exercise, Government always affirmed that crucial fact “that individual Bondholders are free not to participate”. Thus, the right of the individual to self-exempt was never in doubt.
However, under the circumstances, Government at the same time, made a strong but humble appeal to bondholders to participate in the DDEP; seeing it as a very critical act of burden-sharing in the ongoing national effort to tackle the economic crisis, bring back macroeconomic stability and guarantee sustainable growth and prosperity for the people of Ghana.
Government in addition, offered alternatives to encourage individual bondholders and retirees to tender for the new bonds which will have wider secondary market circulation.[ads5]
