Yaw Owusu Brefo, a convener of the Ghana Individual Bondholders’ Forum (IBF), says he would rather keep his money hidden under his pillow than invest it in Ghana government bonds.
Individual bondholders are required to agree to a “voluntary” agreement to swap their domestic bonds for new benchmark bonds under the Domestic Debt Exchange programme.
Mr Brefo said during an appearance on the Badwam show on Adom TV hosted by Akwasi Nsiah that he personally would not invest in it and advised others against doing the same.
He said that if an individual’s investment is impacted, many businesses will fail, with severe ramifications.
He said, “if I had extra money after paying for my children’s schools fees, I would either invest it in something else or hide it under my pillow rather than buy bonds.”
“People won’t grasp the reality of what we’re talking about until they see the true repercussions. I can promise you that the results of this government’s planned Domestic Debt Exchange would be terrible,” he added.
Meanwhile, the IBF has issued a formal notification to its members and invited individual bondholders to become members so that they can continue to consult them as they provide legal public advocacy and negotiation.
IBF also appealed to labour unions to join them in the fight to protect the hard-earned savings and investments made by Ghanaians, including their own members.
