Ghana to issue first domestic dollar bond next month – Finance Minister

ACCRA, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana plans to issue its first domestic investor only dollar bond next month in efforts to deepen the government’s financing streams and bolster the local bond market, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said on Friday.

The two-year bond with a target of about $50 million, would be issued through a book-building system to be arranged by Barclays Bank, Stanbic Bank and brokerage firm Strategic African Securities, Terkper told reporters in Accra.

“The goal is to issue a dollar bond to meet some of our dollar commitments in the budget, most of which are related to capital expenditure,” Terkper said, adding that the overall objective was to rationalise the local dollar market.

“Our target sources include retention by (dollar-earning) companies whose expenditures are in cedis. There may also be dollars in commercial bank accounts which may not be yielding much and we want to provide a window for the depositors to invest,” he said.

The finance ministry is yet to announce a pricing guide for the bond but a source close to the deal said it could be around 5 percent. Government is also considering the issue of a Diaspora bond that targets Ghanaians abroad, Terkper said.

The West African cocoa, gold and oil producer signed a three-year assistance programme with the International Monetary Fund in April 2015 to restore fiscal balance to an economy dogged by deficits, public debt and high interest rates.

Public debt stood at $27.8 billion representing 65.9 percent of gross domestic product as of July. Ghana issued its fifth Eurobond of $750 million due 2022 this month at a yield of 9.25 percent.

The central bank’s monetary policy committee is due to announce a rates decision and analysts polled by Reuters said they expected the bank to hold its benchmark rate at 26 percent.

Source: Reuters Africa News