Gov’t must call for stakeholders' deliberation on a haircut - Dr. Richmond Atuahene

A banking consultant, Dr. Richmond Atuahene says the government should have negotiated with its debtors before initiating a haircut.

Reacting to government debt restructuring on a domestic debt exchange program initiated by the government, he said the government should have negotiated with its debtors for the people to buy into the idea before initiating the haircut pay system.

According to him, the system needs a collaborative effort by stakeholders who have been affected by the haircut to reach a consensus on such a decision and not the government who must decide for those he is owing.

He said an attempt by the government to impose the haircut structure tends to reduce the value of pensioners' money.

He added the government should bring stakeholders on board and explain to them the need to expand the bonds with different coupon weights and payment structures.

“I agree with the attorney if they want to go to court, the government should invite civil society, various TUC, parliament, and pensioners leaders to a negotiation table and tell them we can't do debt reduction, debt re-profiling, or debt rescheduling but we will extend the bond with 4 different payment structure and coupon weight,” he said.

Author: Eric Murphy Asare
Source: www.sompaonline.com