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The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has written to the Minister of Finance, again, to address the continuous delays in payment of members’ coupons at maturity.
The Forum said most of the members were exempted from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) and, consequently, assured of the safety of their bonds.
But the pensioner bondholders claim all concerns raised in the past few weeks about the delay in payment of mature coupons and principals seem to have been snubbed.
From the letter to Ken Ofori-Atta, only bonds whose maturity date was Monday, February 20, 2023 have been paid.
All others including some with 29 days of delay have not been paid despite assurances of correcting that.
“We wish to reiterate that pensioners were exempted from the DDEP, and consequently must always be paid their coupons and principals on due dates without delay, and in the same manner as was done prior to the DDEP.
“The current situation where the Ministry pays coupons and principals to pensioners on dates convenient to the Ministry, instead of due dates, is not what the market dictates for exempted bonds, and same is unacceptable to pensioners, many of whom depend on the coupons for their medications.”
They have served notice of returning to the Ministry to o=picket if no further headway is made.
