Former President John Mahama has in a Facebook post, reiterated that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) would oppose the reintroduction of the Agyapa deal.
Mr. Mahama assured that “the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will oppose it [Agyapa deal] vigorously.”
“Government must clarify reports which are rife in the investment community that it intends to use the Heritage Fund as collateral to raise a US$2 billion loan from a consortium of banks. We wish to serve notice that if this turns out to be true, we in the NDC will oppose it vigorously in the same way that we oppose the Agyapa deal.”
“We cannot support the collateralization of every single source of future revenue just to finance today’s consumption,” Mr. Mahama said.
The post from Mr. Mahama comes after Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, on May 12, 2022, hinted that the government was prepared to pursue the deal during a press briefing in Accra.
“My firm philosophical belief really is that the capital markets are meant for something that will lead us to equity resources, and we are not leveraging on it. Therefore, it is not the question of whether monetization of mineral royalties or listing of the company is bad or good.”
Ofori-Atta said, “It is good because that is how you raise the resources. The question is the process of doing that. If you have a problem with the process just articulate it, let’s cure it but let us not drop something that will be good for us that will reduce our debt exposure. So those are two very different questions. How best to do it as opposed to, don’t do it. My mind is still there, I know the president has mentioned something about that going through the AG, Parliament to do that [Agyapa deal].”
He added, “But it is not something that is an asset to the country that one needs to drop, you need to examine all your equity and debt positions and the best choice for the country.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
