It is now dawning on many, the harsh nature of the current crisis.The phenomenon appears to be no respecter of persons as a spiritual leader in Ghana has shared his frustrations with his congregation.
Founder of Perez Chapel International, Bishop Charles Agyinasare was addressing his church members when he dovetailed into a lamentation about the country’s economic downturn.While individual bondholders cry out to the Finance Minister for an exemption to avoid a haircut, the preacher says he has found himself in a similar predicament.
“Our money is failing, if it has not already failed. Because our banks cannot even pay peoples’ bonds – risk-free bonds,” he explained.
During his sermon on January 24, Rev Agyinasare revealed his ordeal at a financial institution concerning his bonds.
According to the preacher, he had a financial instrument amounting to about GH¢106,000 in an institution which he decided to withdraw in whole.
But this, he was told by the bankers, was impossible.The only workable solution to the bank, per the preacher, was for him to agree to a refund of GH¢1,000 of his investment each week until the debt is fully financed.“That means that the GH¢106,000 will take me 106 weeks,” he said.
He said he further quizzed if anything could be done about the situation.That is when he was briefed that even the GH¢1000-a-week offer was proposed with a consideration of his status as a Bishop.
“And when I said they should do something about it, they said it is because it is even you Archbishop. Because some people come to our bank and they weep,” he added.
“With the restructuring that we are doing, some people’s money will take 30 years to be paid, and so I’m not talking politics I’m talking reality.”
Also during the sermon, the Bishop prayed for strength for persons affected by the ongoing crisis.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum has hinted that bondholders will lose about 88.2% of their investments at the current inflation rate if the government goes ahead and include individuals in the Domestic Debt Exchange programme.
According to the Forum, the bondholders will however lose 71% of their investments when discounted at current Treasury bill rates and 50% when the coupon rates face ‘haircut’.
source: myjoyonline.com
