Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has credited the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for ensuring timely coupon payments under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), stating that the Akufo-Addo government had laid strategic plans for smooth payment processes.
Dr. Amin, who is also the Karaga MP, dismissed claims that the decision to honour the fourth coupon payment to bondholders was solely due to a directive from President John Mahama. In a Facebook post on Monday, February 17, 2025, he clarified that the NPP government had already committed resources to meet these obligations before the current administration took office.
“The NDC Government has announced that the President has directed the Minister for Finance to honour coupon payments to DDEP bondholders,” Dr. Amin wrote, referring to President Mahama’s directive.
He further explained that the NPP government had honoured three previous payments between August 2023 and December 2024. These payments, both in Payment-In-Cash (PIC) and Payment-In-Kind (PIK), amounted to a total of GH₵17.25 billion in PIC and GH₵9.77 billion in PIK.
Additionally, individual bondholders who did not tender their bonds were paid GH₵515.17 million in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the government and the Coalition of Individual Bondholders.
Dr. Amin highlighted that under the previous NPP government, there had been no defaults in coupon payments since the domestic debt restructuring, with reserves built in the Debt Reserves Accounts to support upcoming obligations, including the fourth coupon payment.
He provided a detailed breakdown of the payments made under the NPP government:
- 1st Payment (August 2023): Total of GH₵8.55 billion (PIC: GH₵5.42 billion, PIK: GH₵3.13 billion)
- 2nd Payment (February 2024): Total of GH₵9.11 billion (PIC: GH₵5.85 billion, PIK: GH₵3.27 billion)
- 3rd Payment (August 2024): Total of GH₵9.35 billion (PIC: GH₵5.98 billion, PIK: GH₵3.38 billion)
According to Dr. Amin, these consistent payments demonstrate that the NPP government laid a strong foundation for the continuation of the DDEP, making it inaccurate to attribute the fourth payment solely to President Mahama’s directive. He emphasised that the buffers built were the result of careful planning, and it was misleading to suggest the payment was only possible due to the current administration’s intervention.
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