Business

DDEP badly hit our members – GNCCI

 The Ghana Na­tional Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has disclosed that the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) has had a negative impact on its members.

According to the Chief Ex­ecutive Officer of the Chamber, Mark Badu-Aboagye, most of its members were highly exposed to government bonds.

He stated that research con­ducted also revealed that about 50 per cent of the total assets of banks were invested in govern­ment bonds.

Speaking on Joy Business’ Thought Leadership Series on the theme: Debt Exchange and IMF Deal, A Do or Die Af­fair in Accra on Thursday, Mr Badu-Aboagye maintained that members of the chamber could face serious challenges in rein­vesting into their companies.

“It’s been very severe because the private sector is highly ex­posed to government bonds. The individual bondholders, most of them are business owners that have also invested in government bonds and seeking to get their capital reimbursed into their businesses. So by and large, we have suffered from this DDEP”.

He added that most banks and insurance companies invest the majority of their capital into government bonds rather than lending to the private sector, which will ultimately develop the real sector of the economy.

“The private sector is severely exposed to the DDEP. Banks and insurance companies are all pri­vate organisations, and you take a bank that has to acquire a bond of 9 billion and give the private sector 4 billion. How do you expect the economy to grow”?, he quizzed.

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