The total investments of banks contracted by 4.8 per cent to GH¢79.2 billion in December 2022, relative to a 29.0 per cent annual growth in 2021, as banks re-balanced asset portfolios in response to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, the Bank of Ghana has said in its 110th Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on Monday, 30 January 2023.
The approval of Ghana’s $3-billion extended credit facility by the board of the International Monetary Fund, is contingent upon the debt restructuring programme.
So far, there is a staff-level agreement pending the IMF board’s blessing.
The restructuring of domestic bonds has been hit with opposition from different quarters including the banks, insurers, individual bondholders, securities firms and labour unions.
The government has met and reached separate agreements with some of the groups, the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) included.
This agreement, according to a statement issued on Monday, 23 January 2023, and jointly signed by the two parties, “encompasses final improvements to the terms of the DDEP”.
It includes “an agreement to pay a 5% coupon for 2023 and a single coupon rate for each of the 12 new bonds resulting in an effective coupon rate of 9%, clarity on the operational framework and terms of access to the Ghana Financial Stability Fund (GFSF) and the removal or amendment of all clauses in the Exchange Memorandum that empowers the Republic to, at its sole discretion, vary the terms of the Exchange”.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma
