We reject debt exchange programme; it will destroy savings of Ghanaians – Pensions Chamber

The Chamber of Corporate Trustees has turned down the Ministry of Finance’s plan to exchange debt.

The chamber says that the proposal made by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, falls short of what the market wants and will destroy Ghanaians’ savings and make the market even less confident.

It said in a statement, “We have carefully looked at what the Minister of Finance said about the Debt Exchange Program, and we think it hurts the interests of people who pay into pension plans.”

“The proposal as put forward by the Minister of Finance is worse than what the market expects. It will wipe out Ghanaians’ savings and make the market even less confident.” This is why we completely disagree with it,” it said.

It told people who pay into pension plans that the industry has not agreed to the Ministry of Finance’s plan to swap debts.

“As Trustees, we have a fiduciary duty and are told to always look out for the best interests of contributors,” it said.

It also said that, even though it knows that inflation has done a lot of damage to pension fund assets this year and that there is an urgent need to reduce the government’s debt and bring back macroeconomic stability, this shouldn’t be done at the expense of people who pay into pension schemes.

“We agree with the government’s call for sharing the load, but it should be done fairly so that everyone wins,” the chamber said.

It asked people who put money into pension funds and people who work in the pensions industry to stay calm “while we try to reach the best deal with the Ministry of Finance.”

“We will tell members how our discussions turned out,” it said at the end.

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Written by Ghana Education News Editorial Staff

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