Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has dismissed assertions that the fourth Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) coupon payment was made solely at the directive of President John Mahama.
In a statement released on Monday, February 17, 2025, Dr. Amin Adam insisted that the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had already put measures in place to ensure the smooth execution of the payment.
“The NDC Government has announced that the President has directed the Minister for Finance to honour coupon payments to DDEP bondholders,” he stated in a Facebook post.
“However, this will be the fourth coupon payment due on Tuesday, 18th February 2025, and the previous NPP Government successfully honored three payments before leaving office.”
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According to him, between August 2023 and December 2024, the NPP administration disbursed GH¢17.25 billion in Payment-In-Cash (PIC) and GH¢9.77 billion in Payment-In-Kind (PIK) to bondholders, ensuring financial stability for the programme.
Dr. Amin Adam further argued that the former administration had taken proactive steps by creating financial buffers in the Debt Reserves Accounts to support upcoming debt service obligations, including the fourth coupon payment.
“Since the restructuring of domestic debts, the previous NPP government has not defaulted in coupon payments,” he emphasized. “The buffers we built were not accidental. We planned ahead to ensure that bondholders receive their payments on time.”
He, therefore, described as misleading any attempt to credit the latest payment solely to President Mahama’s directive.