National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, believes the controversy surrounding the $2.25 billion dollar bond may impede the planned issue of a 15-year bond to clear energy sector debts.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Adongo said the apparent secrecy surrounding that $2.25 billion bond had eroded investor confidence.
“The biggest challenge for this debt is the fact that the international investor community has lost confidence in the Ghanaian capital market. They are not very happy with the way the $2.25 billion debt went, and they are not happy with the way government is running away from answering basic questions that will satisfy the market.”
According to the MP, indications are that, it may take about a year for the processes to start on the bond despite government having used days to raise the $2.25 billion bond.
The government announced plans to issue the 15-year bond in April in 2017, to settle all outstanding debts in the energy sector.
The bond is also aimed at improving the financial strength of the State Owned Enterprises (SoEs) in the energy sector and make them competitive.
We won’t forget about controversial bond
In Mr. Adongo’s view, the government is buying time to see if it can manoeuvre and get the Minority in Parliament to back down on its claims of conflict of interest, among others.
“They are going to use six months to get a transaction advisor. That transaction advisor will spend another three months to come back to advise government, then you start a process basically to push it into one year, by which time they believe the investor community would have forgotten about this fraudulent deal which has rocked Ghana.”
“They should rather be doing a lot to allay the fears and concerns as to how one of the most efficient financial markets in the world suddenly became a Ponzi financial system,” the MP asserted.
Mr. Adongo failed to substantiate his claims about the loss of investor confidence over the 15-year bond.
He however insisted to the Eyewitness News host that, “The truth is they know that the investors are running away from this bond.”
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