A Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has described the extension of the deadline for the Debt Exchange Programme to January 31, 2023 as purely a unilateral decision.

According to him, another unilateral deadline amendment will be created on January 31, 2023.

The government yesterday announced the extension of the expiration date of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme from Monday, January 16, 2023 to Tuesday, January 31, 2023.

It indicated its commitment to further engage with stakeholders especially individual bondholders to mitigate any adverse impacts on them as a result of the Debt Exchange Programme.

In a statement by the Ministry of Finance, it said, the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme has been structured as a voluntary exercise in order to shield domestic bondholders.

But in a tweet, Mr. Simons said “yet another deadline extension. Most likely to be followed by another unilateral amendment’.

He added “but the world has seen this movie before: Argentina 2020. After going round in circles and even bringing in the Pope to intervene, in the end only creditor co-creation worked”.

The government yesterday stated that a successful Domestic Debt Exchange is critical to advance the country’s economic recovery process, and therefore “it is in our common interest to make it work”.