Fiscal discipline will be ‘extremely’ key going forward – Finance Ministry
He revealed that debt servicing is consuming “almost of government’s revenue and also 70 per cent of tax revenue.”
The government has assured that going forward fiscal discipline is going to be key in its dealings especially as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is coming onboard to assist the country to deal with the challenges.
Speaking during the launch of the Debt Exchange Programme in Accra on Monday December 5, Samuel Danquah Arkhurst, Chief Economics Officer and Director of Treasury and Debt Management Division at the Ministry said “Fiscal discipline will be extremely Key going forward.”
The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta during the launch justified the introduction of the debt exchange programme.
He said the programme has become necessary because of the enormous challenges with debt servicing.
He revealed that debt servicing is consuming “almost of government’s revenue and also 70 per cent of tax revenue.”
“Which is why we are announcing this to restore our capacity to service debt,” he stressed.
Under the debt exchange programme, he said, ” domestic bond holders will be asked to exchange their instruments for new ones.”
He added “Existing domestic bonds as of 1st December will be exchanged for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, and 2037.”
The annual coupons on all of these bonds will be set at 0 % in 2023, 5% in 2024 and 10% from 2025 until maturity.
“Coupon payments will be semi annual ‘ he stressed.
Source: 3news.com
