Mrs. Eugenia Basheer, Managing Director of Tesah Capital, says the impact of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) has forced financial houses to rethink investment schemes and strategies for investors.
Prior to the DDEP, she said the majority of the financial houses and institutions primarily focused on investing in government bonds since they thought to be risk-free.
She said the restructuring of domestic debts, especially significantly impacted investors’s confidence in financial houses and investment schemes.
However, the finance houses have learnt their lessons therefore, lately, exploring other investment schemes to maximise returns for their investors.
She said this during the Tesah Capital Investment Dialogue, which was hosted by a private media outlet.
‘So, we have restructured our debts; investors have had a raw deal and have lost their money. People’s lifestyles have been negatively affected, and maybe I get passionate because I have had the opportunity to meet them. In spite of that, we
have learnt some lessons, and it has forced us to innovate.
We all got comfortable with Treasury bills and government bonds because we all thought they were safe. Right now, we are all being forced to identify the alternatives for investors,” she said.
The Government of Ghana pursued the DDEP as an attempt to restructure GHS 137 billion of domestic notes and bonds with fresh bonds as the government was struggling to service its debts.
The programme received 80 per cent participation in eligible bonds by investors as the Ministry of Finance closed the programme in February last year.
Mr. Ekow Afedzie, former Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, in his submission, said that despite the impact of the DDEP, investors were still investing.
However, investors have developed interest in other investment schemes, such as collective funds and corporate bonds.
He said that although the stock market was currently facing problems, he expected it to ‘pick up’ in the coming months, as this progress will re
juvenate interest in longer-term instruments among investors.
Source: Ghana News Agency