Harry Yamson, the Managing Partner at Ishmael Yamson and Associates, has characterized the government's announcement to relaunch the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) as perplexing.This announcement comes in the wake of the government's decision to reopen the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

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The Ministry of Finance issued a statement clarifying that the reopening is intended to provide an opportunity for individuals who were unable to participate in the February 2023 exercise.However, in an interview with Starr News, Mr. Harry Yamson argued that the government should acknowledge its financial constraints and address the underlying reasons for its financial difficulties.

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He emphasized that the government has been consistently facing fiscal challenges and should take measures to reduce its expenditure. Mr. Yamson expressed concerns that reopening the DDEP would only exacerbate the country's debt burden.“It is just a mark of the government’s own desperation, the government has found itself in a situation where it is offering ever higher interest rates on Treasury Bill.

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We are now paying more for the treasury bill than we were paying for the old bond. It just tells you that the government does not understand that the work it has to actually need to do is to reduce expenditure not to be going back over and over again. To the bond market and treasury bill market to borrow even larger sums of money,” Mr. Yamson stated.

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He continued: “It has a bloated wage bill, it is over spending on prestige projects and simply failing to do the common sense thing that anybody who runs a budget ought to do. Asking people to participate in this DDEP with the excuse that they failed to do it is ridiculous. The DDEP has been extended twice or the third time.”Mr. Yamson continued by saying that the government's handling of its finances is completely

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reckless.

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