Ghana May Hold Rate to Aid Economy Growing Slowest Since ’83

Ghana May Hold Rate to Aid Economy Growing Slowest Since ’83

ACCRA, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa: Slowing inflation could give Bank of Ghana Governor Abdul Nashiru Issahaku room to continue supporting an economy forecast to expand at the slowest pace since 1983. The Bank of Ghana will probably leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 26 percent for a fourth consecutive meeting on July 18, all four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said. The central bank raised the rate four times by a total of 500 basis points last year to prop…

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Ghana Companies Sell Shares at Record Rate Amid Debt Squeeze

Ghana Companies Sell Shares at Record Rate Amid Debt Squeeze

ACCRA, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghanaian companies needing cash are caught in a dilemma. Faced with borrowing costs at a 13-year high, companies including the local unit of Diageo Plc and Ghana Oil Co. are turning to the stock market to raise record amounts of capital as they try to reduce debt. They could hardly have chosen a worse time. The West African nation’s benchmark stock index is in a bear market, having fallen to a three-year low as a plunge…

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Ghana Cuts Growth Outlook to Lowest in More Than 30 Years

Ghana Cuts Growth Outlook to Lowest in More Than 30 Years

ACCRA, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana cut its economic growth forecast for 2016 to the lowest rate in more than three decades as the country reduced its targets for oil and gold production. West Africa’s largest economy after Nigeria will likely expand 3.2 percent this year after growing 3.9 percent in 2015, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said in a statement on the ministry’s website. That will be the slowest rate since 1983, when the economy contracted 4.6 percent, according…

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Ghana Cedi Falls Second Month as Growth Spurs Dollar Demand

Ghana Cedi Falls Second Month as Growth Spurs Dollar Demand

GHANA, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana’s cedi is heading for a second straight month of losses against the dollar as acceleration in economic growth boosts demand for dollars to pay for imports. The currency of the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer weakened 3 percent in June after sliding 0.7 percent in May, the first instance of back-to-back monthly losses since November. The cedi fell 1 percent to 3.9550 per dollar by 11:55 a.m. on Thursday in…

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Ghana Names 15 Banks as Primary Dealers in Government Bonds

Ghana Names 15 Banks as Primary Dealers in Government Bonds

Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana named 15 banks as primary dealers in the country’s bonds as the West Africa nation seeks to develop its domestic fixed-income market. Only lenders licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and appointed by the central bank will participate in auctions to purchase government debt for their own account and trading purposes, Bank of Ghanasaid Tuesday in a statement on its website. The primary dealers shall also act as market makers…

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Ghana Sees Debt Levels Slowing as Growth Outpaces Borrowings

Ghana Sees Debt Levels Slowing as Growth Outpaces Borrowings

GHANA, Capital Markets in Africa: Growth in Ghanaian government debt will slow in 2016 as economic expansion outpaces borrowing, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said. The West Africa nation’s debt, which measured 71 percent of gross domestic product in 2015, “will improve on account of positive growth,” Terkper told journalists Monday in the capital, Accra. The economy of the world’s second-biggest cocoa grower expanded by 4.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, compared with a revised 4.1…

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AngloGold Plans to Buy Back $475 Million of High-Yield Bonds

AngloGold Plans to Buy Back $475 Million of High-Yield Bonds

GHANA, Capital Markets in Africa: AngloGold Ashanti Limited, the world’s third-largest miner of the metal, said it plans to redeem about $475 million outstanding on a $1.25 billion high-yield bond that was issued in 2013. AngloGold will pay $1,063.75 for every $1,000 of bonds, exercising the notes’ call option, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement Tuesday. The coupon on the debt is 8.5 percent and the sum outstanding attracts an interest charge of $40 million a year, spokesman Stewart…

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