Immediate past Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has dismissed claims that the fourth coupon payment to Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) bondholders was made solely at the directive of President John Mahama.
According to Dr. Amin Adam, the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had already established financial buffers to ensure the smooth continuation of these payments.
“The NDC Government has announced that the President has directed the Minister for Finance to honour coupon payments to DDEP bondholders,” the Karaga MP wrote in an article on Facebook. “This will be the fourth coupon payment due on Tuesday, 18th February 2025. This means the previous NPP Government honoured three previous payments between August 2023 and December 2024.”
He outlined that between August 2023 and December 2024, the NPP government disbursed a total of GH¢17.25 billion in Payment-In-Cash (PIC) and GH¢9.77 billion in Payment-In-Kind (PIK) to bondholders. Additionally, individual bondholders who did not tender their bonds received GH¢515.17 million per a memorandum of understanding with the Coalition of Individual Bondholders.
Breaking down the payments under the NPP administration, he noted:
1st Payment (August 2023): GH¢8.55 billion (PIC – GH¢5.42 billion, PIK – GH¢3.13 billion)
2nd Payment (February 2024): GH¢9.11 billion (PIC – GH¢5.85 billion, PIK – GH¢3.27 billion)
3rd Payment (August 2024): GH¢9.35 billion (PIC – GH¢5.98 billion, PIK – GH¢3.38 billion)
Dr. Amin Adam argued that these payments prove the NPP laid a solid foundation for the DDEP, making it misleading to credit the fourth payment solely to President Mahama’s directive.
“The buffers we built were not accidental. We planned ahead to ensure that bondholders receive their payments on time. It is, therefore, misleading for anyone to suggest that this payment is happening simply because of a new directive from the current administration,” he stated.