Joe Jackson: Ofori-Atta needs to explain the “Gold for Oil” arrangement and bondholders’ concerns
In order to inform the public about the status of Ghana’s IMF programme and growth agenda, Joe Jackson, chief operating officer for Dalex Finance, has urged the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to fill the knowledge gap regarding the issues of foreign bond holders, local dollar bondholders, individual bondholders, and the complex “Gold for Oil” deal….
In order to inform the public about the status of Ghana’s IMF programme and growth agenda, Joe Jackson, chief operating officer for Dalex Finance, has urged the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to fill the knowledge gap regarding the issues of foreign bond holders, local dollar bondholders, individual bondholders, and the complex “Gold for Oil” deal.
Mr. Jackson pointed out that the IMF agreement was in many respects signed before many I’s and T’s had been crossed. The discussion with the international bond holders, local bond holders who hold bonds denominated in dollars, and pension funds that were still owing are only a few of the matters that were not fully resolved and obligations that haven’t been approved.
In order to know if the discussions have been effectively ended or not, he said that Ghanaians would want to get an update and a clear knowledge on all the aforementioned topics in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on the 3FM Sunrise Morning Show.
The market is not benefiting from the IMF pact as much as it should be, the global financial expert noted, “sadly because we don’t know exactly what has transpired.
“Rates are still extremely high, but the dollar rate should have decreased even more if people were aware of our situation and what to anticipate,” he said.
He acknowledged that although the markets have stabilised and been more tranquil than they were before the IMF agreement was reached, there are still problems to be resolved.
The main concern is what we are doing with individual bond holders who did not enrol in the programme but still owed money. Where are the negotiations? When do we put an end to it, and when do we pay them back? Therefore, these are some of the problems that we would want to have solutions for, Joe Jackson said.
He said that even if he does not support the “Gold for Oil” arrangement, the finance minister should address it in his news conference since it is too complicated for many Ghanaians to understand.
