Togbe Afede XIV backs individual bondholders’ call for exclusion from Domestic Debt Exchange

The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV, has supported the position of individual bondholders who are crying for an exclusion from the Domestic Debt Exchange programme.

According to him, the Individual Bondholders Forum’s (IBF) proposal of some fiscal measures to help government save ¢83.5 billion is in the right direction.

And that is where I think we should be looking at first of all,” he explained.

The IBF’s Technical Committee has already issued a statement was issued by the Government of Ghana-Individual Bondholders’ Forum Technical Committee on the Exclusion of Individual Bondholders from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

Providing some more recommendations, the IBF said that the budget provision for the energy sector shortfall of ¢23 billion should be revised downwards by ¢3 billion through the reduction of transmission losses, technical losses, and administrative inefficiencies. 

It also stated that government must maintain the 2022 capital expenditure level by reducing the non-Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), Municipal and District Assembly budget and foreign finance of Capital Expenditure by 50 percent.

It suggested that “with landed properties of circa 2,200,000 in Ghana (Ghana Population and Housing Census 2021), we anticipate that achieving an average annual rate of ¢1,000 per property at a collection efficiency of 50%, will yield the government over ¢1.1 billion in revenue”.