The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has suggested to the government to borrow from the Treasury Bills market to settle all outstanding coupons and principals on their bonds.
The government has failed to pay 19 coupons and three principals since February after exempting the pensioners from the Domestic Debt Exchange programme.
Convenor of the group, Dr Adu Anane Antwi in an interview with Citi News said the government must find the money to pay the pensioners whose livelihoods have been adversely affected.
“The government can borrow from the Treasury Bills market to pay us. If you borrow from the Treasury Bills market, it will raise your debt level, but you are faced with a situation where you have to do that for people who need their money for medication.
“The president once said that they cannot bring the dead back to life, but you can bring the economy back. So we are talking about pensioners who need their money for medication, if you don’t do that they die, you can’t bring them back so borrow from the Treasury Bills market and pay them, so they can live.”
The government has defaulted on payments for coupons on matured bonds for pensioner bondholders who were exempted from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme and to individual bondholders who did not participate in the scheme.
The Forum explains that the government has failed to pay their matured coupons and principals for more than two months.
Source: CNR