Debt exchange: BoG regulators colluding with politicians to collapse banks - Prof Bokpin

Prof. Godfred Bokpin, an economist and finance lecturer at the University of Ghana, has accused regulators at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) of conspiring with the political leadership of Ghana to destroy the economy.

According to him, the regulators know very well that financial institutions agreeing with the current Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) of the government will have serious repercussions on Ghana’s economy, but they coerced them to take part in the programme.

"I’m concerned about the financial institutions that have signed under the third amendment (of the DDEP) and the impact it will have.

"I have said before; I have a lot of respect for those at the Bank of Ghana, and I’m sure the story will be told one day of how regulators teamed up with politicians over champagne and messed up Ghana’s financial sector," he said in a JoyNews interview monitored by GhanaWeb on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.

"I feel sorry for the role that regulators have played in coercing these participating financial institutions (to take part in the DDEP)… the regulators are there to protect the sector they regulate," Prof. Bokpin added.

He added that the failure of the regulators at the BoG to check the financial indiscipline of the government is the reason the country is in the current economic mess.

The academic is also amused that the government, whose borrowing has landed the country in trouble, is asking Ghanaians from whom it borrowed money to adjust their lives while continuing to live lavishly.

On December 5, 2022, the Government of Ghana launched the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, an invitation for the voluntary exchange of the government’s domestic notes and bonds for a package of new bonds.

The move is to help the government restructure GHC137 billion of its domestic debts to prove to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that its debts are sustainable, so that it can get the $3 billion bailout it is seeking from the fund.

The government has had to extend the deadline for the programme due to opposition by individuals and entities that will be affected, including individual bondholders as well as some labour unions.

However, the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) and the government recently reached an agreement for banks to participate in the DDEP after initially rejecting the programme.

IB/SEA