Mohammed Amin Adam, the Minister for Finance has apologized to Ghanaians for the hardships caused by the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
This apology follows Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong’s advice to New Patriotic Party (NPP) members to acknowledge their mistakes and apologize to the public.
Also, Obuasi West MP Kwaku Kwarteng recently suggested that the NPP should recognize both past and present failures to help the party secure future success.
During a town hall meeting in Accra on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Dr. Amin Adam clarified that, the DDEP was mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), making its implementation necessary.
He stressed that, the government never intended to impose hardships on the citizens.
He also highlighted the importance of debt restructuring for the economy and expressed gratitude to Ghanaians for their support.
“We decided to restructure our debts because it was one of the requirements by the IMF. We started with the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, the DDEP was a very successful programme, achieving 95% participation. And on this note, I would like to appeal to the people of Ghana to forgive us, forgive us.
“It is never the intention of any government to impose hardships on its people. More so, the NPP government has demonstrated that we want to reduce the burden on the Ghanaian people.
“It was a necessary, very important decision at the time, that if we had avoided it, our economy would not recover as it has recovered today. The decisions we made, and all the support you gave us during the DDEP have contributed largely to the recovery our economy is seeing today.
“This is why I want to appeal to you to forgive us. But also to thank you on behalf of the president for the sacrifices, for the efforts that you all have made participating in the DDEP that saved our economy,” the Finance Minister said.
The domestic debt exchange programme was part of the government’s efforts to reduce its debt burden and improve its debt sustainability.