Acclaimed Economist and founding father of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kwame Pianim has accused Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of not thinking through his debt exchange programme before imposing it on Ghanaians.
The decision, he argued, will impose suffering on Ghanaians for the next 30 to 40.
Mr. Pianim is unsure of the genuineness of the programme, especially in the face of Ken Ofori-Atta’s failure to take the advice of the Attorney General on it.
As part of requirements for an international Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, the Government put together a Domestic Debt Exchange programme, through which domestic bondholders could lose up to 60% of their investments. This has been met with resistance from these bondholders, especially individual bondholders.
For Mr Pianim, the programme is not only appearing ill-thought-through and unconstitutional as well as a ticking time bomb.
“Ken Ofori-Atta is saying, let us do this programme. But this is badly thought out, not thought through carefully. This exchange programme is like a time bomb that Ken is putting under this economy.
For the next 30 to 40 years, we are going to suffer from it. It is a time bomb because he is squeezing billions of Cedis from this economy, “he said in an interview with TV3.
Meanwhile individual bondholders have threatened to take illegal action if Government goes ahead with the programme
