Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has stated debt payment takes almost all government funds.

He said seventy (70) percent of tax revenues in Ghana are used to pay debt.

The finance minister disclosed this at the launch of debt exchange programme in Accra on earlier today.

He said the programme was timely and needful because of the enormous challenges with debt servicing.

Ken stressed, “debt servicing ‘consumes’ almost all government’s revenue and 70 per cent of tax revenue. Which is why we are announcing this to restore our capacity to service debt.”

Explaining the debt exchange programme, the Finance Minister hinted domestic bond holders will be asked to exchange their instruments for newer ones.

He added, “Existing domestic bonds as of 1st December will be exchanged for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, and 2037.”

The annual coupons on the above listed bonds he stated will be set at 0% in 2023, 5% in 2024 and 10% from 2025 until maturity.

He said coupon payments will be done on a semi annual basis.