Minister for Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has emphasized that the government has no intentions of restructuring T-Bills despite speculations.
The government’s short-term instrument for the past weeks has been recording investor pullback leading to undersubscriptions. For the third consecutive week, government missed its treasury bills borrowing target despite consecutive increases in interest rates.
For instance, the government planned to borrow a total of GH₵ 6.1 billion from the short-term instruments market last week. However, after the auction by the Bank of Ghana, the government was able to accrue only GH₵ 3.8 billion. The target was missed by a whopping GH₵ 2.2 billion representing a shortfall of 37%. The week also missed its target by 7%.
But the Minister for Finance says the low demand for the government’s short-term instrument is not a cause for concern for the government. He justifies that the fluctuation in the demand for T-Bills is age old and hence the recent development is not a cause of worry.
Speaking at the Ministry’s Monthly Economic Update, the Minister allayed the fears of investors maintaining that the government has no intentions to restructure the short-term instruments if that is the cause of the investor pullback.
Dr. Amin Adams maintained that he cannot fathom why a section of the public would entertain that idea when T-Bills are the current source of revenue for the government apart from taxes and grants post the debt restructuring exercise.
“Let me also say that we do not have any intention of restructuring T-bills. We have stated that over and over and over,” the Minister stressed.
He continued that, “I do not understand why people are still skeptical because of the restructuring of the bonds. People think that the only source of revenue to the government, other than the taxes and the grants we get, should also be restructured. If that is the fear, then I want to use this opportunity to restate clearly that the government has no intention, has no plan of restructuring T-bills.”
Commenting on the recent legal suit filed by a private legal practitioner challenging the legality of the issuance of T-Bills by the government, the Minister remarked that he is not perturbed by the legal action.
He admits that Ghana is a democratic state and citizens have the right to exercise their democratic rights. However, he noted that the Attorney-General will respond to the suit appropriately when the case is called.
“This is a democratic country and people when they exercise their rights, they should not be worried. We are all doing this in service for our motherland. The government certainly will respond appropriately in court,” he remarked.
