Founder and Head Pastor of the Perez Chapel International, Archbishop Charles Agyinasare, has lamented over the impact of the country’s current financial crisis on his investment.
According to him, he is unable to recover his GH106,000 investments due to the government’s debt exchange program, which was implemented in response to the country’s economic crisis.
The revered man of God revealed this to his congregation.
According to him, his bankers told him that they could only pay him GH1000 per week until the total amount was settled.
“I’m going to say something, don’t make it political, I’m not talking politics, I’m talking Ghana, I’m talking about we being in a time like that where our monies have been failing if it has not already failed. Our banks cannot even pay people’s bonds, bonds which were risk-free.”
“I’m going to give you my personal testimony. I have an instrument with a certain financial institution– a bank. I have been saving for a very long time, and now it’s [accrued to] about GH¢106,000. I told my bank I was taking my money, they said they are going to pay me GH¢1,000 every week. That means that the GH¢106,000 will take me 106 weeks to get all my money back,” Archbishop Agyinasare recounted.
He states that his bank’s managers told him blatantly that they are offering him the payment plan due to his immigration status.
“And when I said they should do something about it, they said they are trying because it’s me, Archbishop. Because some people come to our bank and they weep. With the restructuring [DDEP] that we are doing, some monies will take 30 years to be paid. And so I’m not talking politics I’m talking about reality,” Archbishop Agyinasare said.
The outspoken preacher predicted that most businesses in the country would soon lay off workers because their funds would be locked up in banks.
“When money failed in Egypt, they came to Joseph… So you and I are going to the Lord in prayer. With what is happening, very soon people are going to lose their jobs because companies that have monies and cannot withdraw their monies from the banks, will not be able to pay their workers. So think about Ghana first and not politics,” he said.
Archbishop Agyinasare thus led his congregation in prayer for the country.
Following the country’s economic crisis and efforts to secure a $3 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government implemented the domestic debt exchange program to help make the country’s debt more bearable.
The debt exchange program affects bonds and other financial instruments, which is widely condemned by various groups.
Individual Bondholders Forum has urged the government to exclude its members from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, claiming that their inclusion would undermine household confidence in Ghana’s financial system and securities market.
Banks, insurance companies, and other identifiable institutions that are expected to receive haircuts as a result of the debt exchange program have publicly expressed their concerns.
