Professor of Finance, Godwin Bokpin has urged government to consider the proposal of the technical committee and exclude individual bondholders from the debt restructuring.

The committee was set up after a joint meeting by the Finance Ministry and individual bondholders over the latter’s inclusion in the debt exchange programme.

According to Prof. Bokpin, there was room to cut down on expenditure without affecting the lives of ordinary Ghanaian people.

“There is room to cut expenditure without hurting growth. The earlier we listen to that call the better for us,” he said.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Top story on Friday, Prof Bokpin said it is not right for the government to celebrate over structuring their debt at expense of the lives of their people.

“Even if the government achieves let’s say 70 or 80 per cent and celebrates that, we cannot celebrate that as a country.

“You can’t celebrate impoverishing your people by taking their bonds, you cannot celebrate weakening your financial sector in the name of restoring the public sector balance sheet,” he told host, Blessed Sogah.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/full-report-technical-committee-on-exclusion-of-individual-bondholders-from-debt-exchange-programme/

The professor of finance reiterated that the best option for government is to adopt the proposal by the technical committee.

“This is a long journey, it’s important that government considers the proposal of the committee, so it does not seem like to be a waste of time and take certain practical steps to cut expenditure and downsize the government and make physical savings that will ease the burden on creditors,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, the technical committee established by the Ministry of Finance came up with other options the government can explore to exclude Individual Bond Holders from Debt Restructuring Programme.

The committee amongst others recommended that government should review its expenditure on state agencies and its flagship programmes to save some funds to sustain its debt.

It would be recalled that since the Finance Minister announced on December 25, that it was going to include individual bondholders in the restructuring there has been some uneasiness.

After several calls and petitions by stakeholders and industry players, the Finance Minister decided to set up a committee to explore other alternatives to restructure the debt.