- Restructured Bonds Drive Ghana Fixed Income Market as Short-Term Debt Demand Eases
Trading activity on the Ghana Fixed Income Market slowed on Thursday, July 9, 2026, but investor appetite shifted decisively back to restructured government bonds, with DDEP securities accounting for nearly 70.00% of total market turnover.
Total turnover on the market stood at GH¢1.23 billion across 308 trades, down from GH¢1.73 billion recorded in the previous session. This represents a decline of 28.82%, signalling a softer trading day after Wednesday’s stronger activity.
The drop in turnover was largely driven by a sharp slowdown in Treasury bill trading, which had dominated the previous session. On Thursday, Treasury bills recorded GH¢353.49 million from 273 trades, accounting for 28.77% of total market activity.
DDEP bonds, however, took over as the clear driver of the session, recording GH¢857.77 million in turnover from only 23 trades. This represented 69.81% of total GFIM turnover, showing that large-ticket bond transactions, rather than the number of trades, defined the day’s market direction.
The trading pattern points to a fixed income market where institutional investors continue to move selectively along the restructured bond curve, especially where prices and yields offer room for portfolio positioning. Although Treasury bills still recorded the highest number of trades, DDEP bonds carried the market by value.
The most traded security was the Government of Ghana DDEP bond maturing on February 10, 2032, with a coupon of 9.10%. The bond recorded GH¢404.67 million in turnover from three trades, making it the largest single contributor to market activity.
The security closed at a yield of 14.27% and an end-of-day closing price of 80.4729. Its turnover alone represented 32.93% of total GFIM activity and 47.18% of the DDEP bond segment.
That level of concentration is significant. It shows that while the market was active across several securities, one restructured bond carried almost half of all DDEP trading. For market watchers, this suggests focused institutional demand rather than broad-based movement across the entire bond curve.
The Government of Ghana DDEP bond maturing on February 13, 2029, with a coupon of 8.65%, was also heavily traded, recording GH¢234.28 million across eight trades. It closed at a yield of 13.34% and a price of 89.9150.
Another notable DDEP security was the bond maturing on February 11, 2031, with a coupon of 8.95%, which recorded GH¢120.16 million in turnover from three trades. It closed at a yield of 13.60% and a price of 84.4369.
The bond maturing on February 12, 2030, with a coupon of 8.80%, recorded GH¢40.00 million from two trades, closing at a yield of 13.74% and a price of 86.2627. The February 16, 2027 DDEP bond also traded GH¢30.00 million from one trade, closing at a yield of 10.64% and a price of 98.6624.
These trades suggest continuing interest in selected DDEP maturities, particularly in the medium-to-long end of the curve. The yields also show that investors remain willing to trade restructured securities where pricing reflects risk, liquidity and duration considerations.
Treasury bills, although no longer the dominant segment by value, remained the most active by number of trades. The segment’s 273 trades accounted for 88.64% of all market transactions, underscoring the continued role of short-term securities as the most liquid instruments for smaller and frequent trades.
The most traded Treasury bill was the Government of Ghana bill maturing on June 21, 2027, which recorded GH¢105.56 million in turnover from 17 trades. It closed at a yield of 12.41% and a closing price of 89.4224.
The Government of Ghana bill maturing on February 1, 2027, also recorded strong activity, with GH¢42.73 million traded in a single transaction. The bill closed at a yield of 8.57% and a price of 95.3504.
Other notable Treasury bill activity included the August 24, 2026 bill, which recorded GH¢27.65 million, and the July 5, 2027 bill, which posted GH¢23.22 million from 16 trades. The June 28, 2027 bill also recorded GH¢20.02 million from 10 trades, closing at a yield of 12.58%.
The sell-and-buy-back segment recorded GH¢17.51 million from 12 trades, representing 1.42% of total market turnover. Activity in this segment remained modest but provided additional liquidity around selected Government of Ghana bonds.
The largest sell-and-buy-back transaction involved the February 8, 2033 DDEP bond with a coupon of 9.25%, which recorded GH¢8.82 million from four trades. It traded at a yield of 12.55% and a weighted average closing price of 85.4532.
The February 7, 2034 DDEP bond also recorded GH¢5.73 million in the sell-and-buy-back segment, trading at a yield of 13.60% and a weighted average closing price of 77.4894.
There were no trades in new Government of Ghana notes and bonds, old Government of Ghana notes and bonds, or corporate bonds during the session. This left the day’s activity concentrated almost entirely in DDEP bonds, Treasury bills and sell-and-buy-back trades.
The absence of corporate bond activity again highlights the continued dominance of sovereign instruments on the Ghana Fixed Income Market. While government securities remain the backbone of trading, the lack of activity in corporate bonds shows that Ghana’s debt market still has some distance to travel in building a deeper private credit market.
Overall, Thursday’s trading session told two stories. The first was a decline in total market turnover, reflecting a cooler session after the previous day’s stronger activity. The second was a clear rotation back into restructured bonds, with DDEP securities overtaking Treasury bills as the main source of traded value.
For investors, the message is that Ghana’s fixed income market remains liquid but highly selective. Treasury bills still dominate by frequency of trades, while DDEP bonds dominate when institutional investors move larger volumes.
For policymakers and market participants, the session reinforces the importance of confidence in the post-DDEP bond market. Strong secondary trading in selected restructured bonds is a useful signal, but the concentration of activity in a few securities also shows that liquidity is not yet evenly spread across the curve.
Until that depth broadens, daily GFIM performance will continue to depend heavily on the appetite of large institutional investors for a handful of active government securities.
On Thursday, that appetite was firmly in restructured bonds.
