- GFIM Opens August with GH¢1.44 billion Turnover as Short-Term Securities Lead
Trading activity on the Ghana Fixed Income Market reached GH¢1.44 billion on Monday, August 3, 2026, with Treasury bills accounting for more than half of total turnover as investors maintained a strong preference for short-dated government securities.
The market recorded 1,430 transactions during the session, according to the GFIM trading report, with Treasury bills generating GH¢810.05 million across 1,396 trades. That represented 56.25% of total market turnover and underlined the continued dominance of short-term government instruments in secondary-market activity.
Domestic Debt Exchange Programme bonds were the second-largest segment, recording GH¢602.28 million in turnover from 27 transactions, equivalent to 41.82% of the day’s total trading value.
Combined, Treasury bills and DDEP bonds accounted for 98.06% of the GH¢1.44 billion traded, leaving only a small share of activity for corporate bonds and sell/buy-back transactions.
Sell/buy-back trades in Government of Ghana bonds generated GH¢27.78 million across six transactions, representing 1.93% of turnover, while corporate bond trading was limited to a single GH¢100,000 transaction.
No trades were recorded in new Government of Ghana notes and bonds or in the older pre-DDEP government bond segment.
The concentration of liquidity in Treasury bills reflects an investment environment in which short-term government paper remains highly attractive to financial institutions and other investors seeking liquidity, relatively low duration risk and clarity around near-term returns.
The largest Treasury bill position traded during the session was the security maturing on December 28, 2026.
The instrument recorded GH¢184.37 million in turnover across 64 transactions, accounting for approximately 22.76% of total Treasury bill activity and 12.80% of the entire GFIM session.
It closed at a yield of 6.93% and a weighted average price of GH¢97.28.
The trading data also showed substantial activity across shorter maturities. A Treasury bill maturing on October 26, 2026 recorded more than GH¢44.24 million across 1,031 transactions, illustrating the depth of trading around near-term securities even where individual transaction sizes were considerably smaller.
The significant number of trades in Treasury bills contrasted sharply with the DDEP market, where considerably larger block transactions drove turnover.
Within the DDEP segment, the February 2030 bond carrying an 8.80% coupon dominated activity.
The security recorded approximately GH¢378.03 million in turnover and closed at a yield of 15.06%, with a weighted average closing price of GH¢83.27.
That single instrument accounted for 62.77% of all DDEP bond turnover and approximately 26.25% of the entire GH¢1.44 billion fixed-income market activity for the day.
Another major DDEP trade occurred in the February 2032 instrument, where GH¢192.00 million changed hands. The bond closed at a yield of 14.98% and a price of GH¢78.37, accounting for about 31.88% of DDEP turnover.
Together, the 2030 and 2032 DDEP instruments generated roughly GH¢570.03 million, or almost 94.65% of trading within the DDEP category.
The concentration indicates that secondary-market liquidity in restructured government bonds remains heavily skewed towards selected maturities rather than being evenly distributed across the entire DDEP curve.
Other DDEP instruments attracted comparatively modest activity.
The February 2028 bond recorded GH¢13.11 million, while the February 2034 instrument generated GH¢10.00 million. Smaller trades were recorded across the 2027, 2033, 2037 and 2038 maturities.
Yields across the actively traded DDEP securities remained materially higher than those observed in Treasury bills, reflecting the longer duration and different risk and liquidity characteristics of the restructured bonds.
For investors, that spread continues to create a clear trade-off.
Treasury bills provide shorter maturity exposure and relatively stronger liquidity, while longer-term DDEP bonds offer higher yields but expose holders to greater duration and market-price risk.
The corporate bond market remained virtually inactive during the session.
Only GH¢100,000 was traded in a corporate security, identified as a CMB bond maturing in August 2027 with a 13.00% coupon. The security closed at a price of GH¢101.50.
That limited turnover highlights the continuing imbalance within Ghana’s fixed-income market, where government securities overwhelmingly dominate secondary trading and corporate debt remains a very small component of overall activity.
The structure matters for capital-market development.
A deeper corporate bond market could provide businesses with an alternative to bank financing while allowing institutional investors to diversify away from sovereign exposure. Yet the August 3 session shows that liquidity remains concentrated overwhelmingly in government-issued securities.
The GH¢1.44 billion turnover therefore reflects both the strength and the structural limitations of Ghana’s fixed-income market.
Liquidity is substantial, particularly in Treasury bills and selected DDEP securities, but it remains highly concentrated.
For the start of August, investors demonstrated a clear preference for short-term government paper while maintaining selective interest in higher-yielding restructured bonds.
The result leaves Treasury bills firmly at the centre of secondary-market activity, accounting for more than GH¢1 in every GH¢2 traded, while a handful of DDEP maturities continue to absorb most of the liquidity available at the longer end of the government yield curve.
