Gov’t achieves 95% participation rate in second round of DDEP

Government has achieved a 95% participation rate across its three latest debt exchange programmes.

The Finance Ministry revealed that in the first program, which focused on pension funds, nearly 95% of eligible bondholders identified by the Central Securities Depository participated.

Pension funds agreed to exchange GHS 29 billion out of the existing GHS 31 billion bonds for new notes maturing in 2027 and 2028.

In tandem, the exchange of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds saw approximately 92% participation from eligible bondholders. Investors agreed to swap $741 million in foreign currency-denominated notes out of $809 million eligible bonds for two new securities maturing in 2027 and 2028.

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) also saw a 97% participation rate in its Debt Exchange Programme, with over GHS 7 billion worth of bills tendered.

Meanwhile, the settlement date for the exchange has been rescheduled from September 1st to September 4th, 2023.

Ghana agreed to swap about $4 billion of domestic debt as another step to meeting its obligations under an International Monetary Fund programme.