An economist, Professor Godfred Bokpin, has bemoaned the government’s approach to handling issues concerning creditors in relation to the debt exchange programme.

According to him, the government is not prioritizing negotiations and consultations with creditors even though they form an integral part of the entire restructuring process.

Prof. Bokpin said, “If you look at the approach government is adopting, there is less value actually placed on consultation and recognizing creditors as important stakeholders in all of this, and therefore it didn’t matter much if government didn’t even consult those people before coming up with this reopening when they had been exempted and all of that.”

The economist said he expected government to be moving in a way to find an end to the debt crisis as soon as possible in order to work towards restoring confidence in the economy.

“One would have thought that after such a painful process, we would be moving quite quickly to bring a closure to this whole domestic debt exchange so that the country can build forward better and inclusively, because, you need to generate trust in your financial system and so it’s a bit concerning the way we are going,” he said.

Prof. Bokpin recommended that creditors come together to negotiate from a position of strength in order to get a full grasp of the true terms of the programme.

He said “If you look at the fiscal framework, you will see that there is considerable room to make expenditure-based fiscal adjustments that will lessen the burden on creditors. The narrative has been that debt restructuring seems to be the only way out of this. That is why I am saying that, from the beginning, if domestic creditors had come together in a more organized way and negotiated from a position of strength, there would have been clarity in terms scope of adjustment from fiscal, debt restructuring, and all of that so that it is clear to all of us.”

SSD/MA

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