The Executive Chairman of AB & David Law Company, David Ofosu-Dorte has entreated Ghanaians to anticipate more layoffs in the financial sector as the economic situation of the country is at a critical point.[ads2]
According to him, there is no hope of an economic recovery as most Ghanaians are praying for.
Mr Ofosu-Dorte says with the ongoing debt restructuring, Ghanaians should not be over confident of a possible financial sector rebound.[ads3]
“I mean, a lot of organizations who will not have access to money to expand including those in the banking sector who have had the payments of their bonds deferred in the debt exchange will downsize. So expect a lot of lay-offs and tougher times”, he told Bernard Avle on the Point of View on Citi TV on Monday.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo is optimistic that a successful implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange programme will ensure that Ghana gets the balance of payment support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by March 2023 to overturn the country’s economic situation.[ads4]
The deadline for bondholders to sign on the programme was to expire on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.
This was an attempt by the government to further engage with stakeholders, especially individual bondholders and for the fourth time extended the deadline for the Programme from January 31 to February 7, 2023, introducing new terms.
Bondholders who are below the age of 59 years will be offered instruments with maximum maturity of five years, instead of 15 years, and a 10% coupon rate; while retirees including those retiring in 2023 will be offered instruments with maximum maturity of five years, instead of 15 years, and a 15% coupon rate.
Government is hoping for an 80% subscription to the programme as it structures domestic debt to achieve 55% debt-to-GDP ratio by 2028, as part of efforts to secure a 3 billion dollar bailout from the IMF.[ads5]
