Government to issue $2bn bond to pay energy debts – Oppong Nkrumah

The Akufo-Addo government is set to issue a $2.24billion bond in the coming days to pay the huge debt burdening the country’s energy sector, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, a deputy Information Minister has disclosed.

The issuance of the bond, he said Thursday on Morning Starr, is part of efforts by government to raise money over a long profile to pay the energy sector debt off out-rightly.

Nonetheless, he failed to disclose whether the bond will be issued domestically or otherwise.

“We have just successfully done a $2.25billion bond and we are looking at how to raise an extra of about $2.24billion to pay off that debt in a single bullet and to have that single bullet amortized with the energy sector levies that are still existing,” he told Morning Starr host Francis Abban.

President Akufo-Addo revealed in his maiden State of the Nation Address that the country’s energy sector is saddled with huge debts threatening reliable power supply if immediate measures are not taken.

He said attempts by the former administration to solve the debilitating power crisis that hit the country led to a debt of over $2billion.

“The attempts by the previous government to resolve the dumsor crisis have led to a gargantuan debt overhang in the sector…we have inherited a heavily indebted energy sector, with the net debt reaching 2.4 billion US dollars as at December 2016,” he stated.

Government through the finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, this month, issued a $2.25 bond for 15 years. The bond which was laregely bought by Franklin Templeton, a US-based Firm was met with huge controversies and allegations of cronyism.

According to the Minority in Ghana’s parliament, Mr. Ofori Atta cooked the bond for his cronies— a charge he sternly dismissed.