The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has expressed concern over government’s Domestic Debt Exchange (DDX) programme.

According to the TUC, it is concerned about the DDX, due to its “negative impact on workers’ pensions.”

The DDX programme was launched on Monday, 5 December 2022.

In a statement issued by the TUC, it also expressed concerns about “the lack of prior engagement with Labour given that substantial portion of workers’ pension is invested in government bonds.”

It noted that, the union will “scrupulously analyse” the participation of pension funds of its members in the programme.

The union assured workers that together with its affiliate unions, it will do everything in its power to ensure members are “fully protected and that not even a pesewa of pension funds is lost in the debt restructuring programme.”

It, therefore, urged workers to remain calm.

As part of efforts to decrease the country’s debt burden, government launched the DXX programme.

Launching the programme, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said: “Under the domestic bonds exchange programme, domestic bondholders will be asked to exchange their instruments for new ones.

“Existing domestic bonds as of 1st December 2022 will be exchanged for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032 and 2037.”

The Minister explained that: “The annual coupon on all these bonds will be set at zero percent in 2023, 5 percent in 2024 and 10 percent from 2025 until maturity… In line with this, treasury bills are completely exempted, and all holders will be paid the full value of their investments on maturity. 

“There will be no haircuts on the principal of bonds, and individual holders of bonds will also not be affected”.