Q2 2019: Government to borrow GHS12m

The government of Ghana plans to borrow GHS12.1 million, through various financial instruments for the second quarter of 2019, which covers April to June.

This was contained in a statement published on the central bank’s website on 20 May 2019.

Out of the total amount, the government will use GHS11.53 million to roll over maturities. The remaining GHS566.06 million is fresh issuance to meet government’s financing requirements, the statement said.

This is slightly higher than the government’s debt instruments within the same period for the previous year. In the second quarter of 2018, the government borrowed an amount of GHS 11,325.00 million, out of which GHS 8,748.00 million was used to roll over maturities.

Obligations to service debt have also increased significantly by more than a quarter within the same period between the two years.

According to the calendar, the 91-day and 182-day Treasury Bills will be issued weekly; the 364-day bill will, however, be issued on a bi-weekly basis also through the primary auction, with settlement being the transaction date plus one working day.

Two-year to 15-year securities will be issued through the book-building method while the issuance of the 6-year bonds will be through the reopening of the existing 6-year bond issued in February 2019.

The BoG further noted that consistent with the government’s Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDM), they may announce tap-ins/reopening of existing instruments depending on market conditions.

There have been heated debates between the government and the Minority in Parliament concerning Ghana’s debt stock with the latter arguing that increasing debts will hamper the economy.

The BoG’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data released in the first quarter of 2019 showed that Ghana’s debt stock increased by 21.5 per cent as of the end of 2018, adding GHS30.6 billion to the GHS142.6 billion debt of 2017.

Ghana’s debt stock, therefore, hit GHS173.2 billion.

The country’s external debt at the end of 2018 stood at GHS86.3 billion.

The domestic component of the total debt stock was GHS86.9 billion.

The two represent 28.9 per cent and 29.1 per cent of GDP, respectively.