Dalex Finance’s Director of Business Operations has predicted doom for the country’s economy if the government does not up its game and complete the debt restructuring negotiations this month. 

Joe Jackson says non-completion of the policy would make room for uncertainties. 

According to him, if by February the issue has not been addressed completely, it will not augur well for the country. 

In this regard, Mr Jackson speaking in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM on Wednesday, January 4, urged the government negotiators to expedite negotiations on the debt exchange programme. 

“In my mind, by the end of this month, it should have been tied up, it is hard to imagine going into February without this issue being resolved then we will be heading into the doomsday scenario,” he predicted. 

Mr Jackson however said the recent stability of the Ghanaian Cedi has calmed the nerves of the international market. 

“The reason why the markets haven’t punished Ghana as badly as they could have punished us is that there is a sense that the IMF will come in and provide some stability…but we then need to negotiate with all these constituencies that we are asking to take a haircut, and it has to be voluntary. 

So we are walking on a knife edge, and we have to come to a conclusion very soon. I don’t think that there is a lot of time at all.”

Meanwhile, the government has already extended the deadline for its domestic debt exchange to January 16 after the earlier deadline of December 30, 2022. 

This is in order to “secure internal approvals” from the financial sector. 

The Ministry of Finance also announced a change to the debt exchange, with eight additional instruments to be created.