The immediate past Finance Minister has dismissed claims that the decision to honour the fourth coupon payment to Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) bondholders was solely at the directive of President John Mahama.

According to Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had already laid the groundwork to ensure a seamless continuation of these payments.

“The NDC Government has announced that the President has directed the Minister for Finance to honour coupon payments to DDEP bondholders,” the Karaga MP wrote in an article on Facebook on Monday.

“As reported in the announcement, this will be the fourth coupon payment due on Tuesday, 18th February 2025.

"This means the previous NPP Government honoured three previous payments both in Payment-In-Cash (PIC) and Payment-In-Kind (PIK) between August 2023 and December 2024.”

He stated that the NPP administration had committed significant resources to meet these obligations, stating that between August 2023 and December 2024, government paid a total of GH¢17.25 billion in PIC and GH¢9.77 billion in PIK to bondholders.

In addition, individual bondholders who did not tender their bonds were paid a total of GH¢515.17 million, in accordance with a memorandum of understanding signed between the government and the Coalition of Individual Bondholders.

“Since the restructuring of the domestic debts, the previous NPP government has not defaulted in coupon payments.

"Buffers were also built in the Debt Reserves Accounts to support upcoming debt service obligations such as the fourth coupon payment,” Dr Amin Adam noted.

Providing a breakdown of the payments made under the NPP government, he outlined:

• 1st Payment (August 2023): Total payment of GHS8.55 billion (PIC - GH¢5.42 billion & PIK - GH¢3.13 billion).
• 2nd Payment (February 2024): Total payment of GHS9.11 billion (PIC - GH¢5.85 billion & PIK - GH¢3.27 billion).
• 3rd Payment (August 2024): Total payment of GH¢9.35 billion (PIC - GH¢5.98 billion & PIK - GH¢3.38 billion).

Dr Amin Adam argued that these consistent payments prove that the NPP government laid a strong foundation for the continuity of the programme, making it inaccurate to attribute the fourth payment solely to President Mahama’s directive.

“The buffers we built were not accidental. We planned ahead to ensure that bondholders receive their payments on time. It is, therefore, misleading for anyone to suggest that this payment is happening simply because of a new directive from the current administration,” he said.