100-year $50bn bond apt – BoG

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, has expressed confidence in the government’s proposed $50 billion century bond.

“I think it is a good idea to look at the longer term; the Finance Minister was looking at the longer term financial needs of Ghana,” he told Bloomberg in an interview.

Dr Addison said: “However, we are also focused on the importance of debt sustainability, so, we are trying to manage the contraction of debt to be consistent with our fiscal framework”.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta hinted at the century bond in September 2018 and expressed optimism that it will contribute to strengthening the falling cedi.

Speaking with the parliamentary press corps on Monday, 24 September 2018, Mr Ofori-Atta said the government is exploring several means in its bid to stabilise the currency.

“For now, we are structuring what we call the century bond of $50 billion, and a successful century bond will then make everybody pretty comfortable about the future of our needs for both infrastructure and the foreign exchange we need, so that we have more stability”.

Mr Ofori-Atta continued: “As you also begin to see the realisation of industrialisation, that means that something like food, which we used to import about $2.4 billion a year, we will begin to cut down on that; that is a lot of savings”.

He was positive that measures being implemented by the government will lead to the development of the economy in the coming months.