Ghana tops interest rates ranking in Africa

Ghana is now ranked first among 12 African countries with the highest interest rates, according to Ecobank Research tracking of interest rates on the Continent.

According to the report, the yield on the 91-Day and 182-Day bill stood at 21.08 and 20.90 percent respectively.

It was followed by Malawi and The Gambia with interest rates of more than 15 percent on the short term dated instrument.

ECOWAS biggest economy Nigeria recorded interest rates of 12.26 and 14.06 percent respectively on its 91-Day and 182-Day bills respectively.

Ghana issued its first three-year bond last month which was marginally oversubscribed.

While the longer term bonds are infrequently issued, the report said the Central Bank remain keen on extending the yield curve to deepen liquidity and support secondary market price discovery.

The Monetary Policy Committee raised the policy rate to 18 percent in February.

This significantly impacted on bond pricing, as yields on the 3-year bond rose significantly to reflect risk premium associated with uncertainty over the short term Cedi and inflation outlook.