THE NATIONAL Debt Exchange (NDX) will not impact on interest earnings which are currently due, Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips has said.

Seeking to assure pensioners that the debt exchange would not have an adverse effect on them, Phillips said "all the accumulated interests will be payable".

"You will receive all the available interest that has been accumulated," the minister said during a media briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew yesterday.

According to Phillips, pensioners, as well as other retail bondholders, can elect to receive a special one- year bond at the rate of seven per cent.

"If you have a Jamaican-dollar bond maturing, or a US-dollar bond maturing, you could elect to receive a new bond at seven per cent for the domestic or five per cent for the US-dollar bond," Phillips said.

He added: "These will be among the most attractive bonds available which will allow pensioners who need to receive their principals to encash their new bonds at the bank or broker on favourable terms," the minister said.

Phillips said people in their twilight years were prone to anxiety and that it was incumbent on him to offer the reassurance to pensioners.