The President of the Ghana Association of Bankers, John Awuah, has stated that after the losses incurred in the first round of the domestic debt exchange programme, Ghanaians are not ready for any more.

“I’m not sure as a country there’s any kind of appetite for any round of domestic debt. The local bondholders have taken a lot of hits, even the central bank…in terms of what they did to make sure the process moved forward and the resulting media and public outcry…so the appetite at this stage, I am not sure there is any kind of space to accommodate another round,” he said on JoyNews.

According to him, the banks need to know if the exercise has ended in order to be able to move on and aim for stability as soon as possible.

He added that government has also not given them any information on whether there will be any more debt exchange.

“We have not had any formal communication but of course, those were the outstanding issues on the table. The market moved on and we need some certainty within the financial markets it is important that very concrete messaging is sent out and market participants are aware that this is where we are and from now we can only look at the upside of our engagement in the marketplace.

“So as banks, we are not looking forward to whatever name you have for it, but we’re not looking forward to any exchange or debt operations or other technical language you have for it,” he added.

John Awuah said the industry needs some space to ensure a full recovery.

“The point is the industry has taken too much hit and when the industry takes a hit, the long-term effect is that it is the economy that takes a hit because you need a strong financial system to anchor any kind of recovery,” he said.

SSD/NOQ

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