Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has stated that failure to secure a bailout with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by mid-March may ground Ghana’s economy to a halt.

Addressing Pensioner bondholders who have resisted their inclusion in a domestic debt exchange programme on Monday, February 6, the Finance Minister pleaded with the pensioners to accept a 3.5% cut and accept the new terms of 15% coupon rate and 5% maturity.

“We really feel that government has listened, there is humanity to us, we are protecting the destitute, widows and the orphans and the older people who have worked for this nation. We are in a crisis, we cannot put our heads under the sun and pretend that we are not.

“We need to be mindful that we really need to be successful in going to the fund by this March to avoid what we all experienced last year which we all don’t want to experience again.”

Pensioners who bought government bonds on Monday, February 6, 2023, picketed at the Finance Ministry to press home their demands for an exemption of their bonds from the government’s domestic debt exchange programme.

The pensioners who are part of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum, want the government to completely exempt them from the debt exchange. They believe the inclusion of their bonds will negatively impact their livelihoods.

The closure of the invitation for holders of the government’s bond to subscribe to the programme expires tomorrow, Tuesday, February 7, 2023.