$2.25b bond shows 'my government on sound footing' - Nana Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the high subscription to a $2.25 billion bond the Finance Minister issued almost two months ago is proof that his government began on a “sound footing” and has won the confidence of private investors.

Speaking at the opening of the 2017 World Bank Development Finance Forum in Accra, Nana Akufo-Addo said the 15-year local-currency bond which raised in that “cycle more than US$2 billion” “is evidence of the returning private investor confidence in Ghana.”

“Because investors make decisions on the basis of their perception of risk and uncertainty, this transaction sends a clear message to the markets that this new government, my government, has started on a sound footing and that Ghana is on a path of fiscal consolidation, debt sustainability and growth,” the president added.

The Minority in Parliament has, however, written to the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States to investigate the bond transaction since, in their view, it was done in “secrecy”, “cooked” for one investor and fraught with conflict of interest.

On Wednesday, 31 May, the Minority filed a half motion in Parliament in connection with the transaction, a situation that caused the Speaker to ask the Finance Minister to respond in a week.

Apart from the bond, however, President Akufo-Addo said Ghana’s “actions are only a part of the equation,” in growing the country. “We need risk reallocation instruments from the multilateral developments banks, like guarantees and insurance, to be deployed to trigger additional investments. For example, a 700 million US Dollar World Bank Group guarantee enabled us mobilise 7.9 billion US dollars of private investment. These are the kinds of deals that should happen more often in Africa, as development finance institutions partner with private capital.”