- Ghana Fixed Income Market Trades GH¢2.34bn with DDEP Bonds Leading Activity
Trading on the Ghana Fixed Income Market reached GH¢2.34 billion on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, with securities issued under Ghana’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme dominating activity and accounting for nearly three-fifths of total market volume.
Data from the Ghana Fixed Income Market show aggregate traded volume of GH¢2.335 billion across 4,620 transactions. DDEP bonds alone recorded GH¢1.387 billion, representing approximately 59.38% of total turnover and reinforcing their position as the principal source of liquidity in the longer-dated government securities market.
Treasury bills were the second-largest segment, with GH¢801.01 million changing hands. That represented about 34.30% of total traded volume, although the short-term instruments overwhelmingly dominated the number of individual transactions, accounting for 4,567 of the day’s 4,620 trades, or roughly 98.85%.
Sell-buy-back transactions involving Government of Ghana notes and bonds contributed another GH¢147.10 million, equivalent to about 6.30% of market activity. Trading in newly issued government notes and bonds was considerably smaller at GH¢236,720, while old Government of Ghana securities recorded GH¢196,832.
No corporate bond trading was recorded during the session, leaving government securities effectively responsible for the entire day’s market activity.
Within the DDEP segment, the 8.95% bond maturing in February 2031 emerged as the most heavily traded individual security. The instrument recorded GH¢422.75 million across 10 trades, representing about 30.49% of total DDEP bond volume and 18.10% of overall GFIM turnover.
The 2031 bond closed at a yield of 14.79%, up from an opening level of 14.71%, with an end-of-day price of approximately GH¢81.23 for every GH¢100 of face value. The discount to par reflects the relationship between the bond’s 8.95% coupon and the higher yield demanded in the secondary market.
Other significant DDEP transactions included approximately GH¢265.28 million in the 9.85% February 2037 bond, which closed at a yield of 15.30%, and GH¢234.91 million in the 8.35% February 2027 security, which ended the day at 11.53%.
The February 2028 DDEP bond carrying an 8.50% coupon recorded another GH¢145.23 million, while the February 2034 instrument changed hands to the tune of GH¢141.98 million. Activity across these securities demonstrates that secondary-market liquidity continues to be concentrated across different points on the post-restructuring government yield curve rather than in a single maturity bucket.
The longer-dated 2035 DDEP bond recorded GH¢102.28 million of outright trading and was also the largest instrument within the sell-buy-back segment, where approximately GH¢67.41 million was transacted across five deals at a yield of 14.60%.
Sell-buy-back activity also included GH¢60.00 million in the February 2036 bond and GH¢16.33 million in the February 2028 DDEP security. Such transactions are significant because they allow market participants to exchange securities and liquidity for defined periods, supporting short-term funding and collateral management within the fixed-income market.
Treasury bills, meanwhile, generated significantly more transactions despite accounting for a smaller share of aggregate volume than DDEP bonds. This points to a market in which short-dated securities remain heavily traded in smaller parcels, while larger institutional transactions are concentrated in government bonds.
The single largest Treasury bill position highlighted by the market summary was the 364-day bill maturing on August 9, 2027, which recorded approximately GH¢234.30 million across 365 trades. The instrument closed at a yield of about 12.87% and an end-of-day price of GH¢88.63.
That level remains substantially above yields on many shorter-dated bills, reflecting the additional return demanded by investors for locking funds away for a longer period. It also illustrates the increasingly pronounced shape of Ghana’s short-term yield curve, where returns can vary materially depending on maturity.
In the newly issued Government of Ghana bond segment, only one trade was recorded. A 7-year bond maturing in March 2033 registered volume of GH¢236,720, with its yield falling from an opening 12.50% to a closing 12.20% as the price rose to approximately GH¢101.28.
The relatively modest volume in that instrument contrasts sharply with the deeper liquidity visible in DDEP securities. Investors continue to hold and trade substantial quantities of bonds created through the 2023 domestic debt restructuring, making those instruments central to price discovery across Ghana’s sovereign bond market.
The August 11 session consequently presents two different pictures of liquidity. By transaction count, Treasury bills dominate overwhelmingly, but by value, DDEP bonds remain the market’s principal engine.
That distinction matters for interpreting the recovery of Ghana’s domestic fixed-income market after the debt exchange. A functioning secondary market requires not merely outstanding securities but sufficient trading to allow investors to enter and exit positions, establish reliable yield benchmarks and manage portfolio liquidity.
Tuesday’s GH¢1.39 billion in DDEP bond activity suggests sizeable institutional trading remains present across the restructured government curve. However, the absence of corporate bond transactions also highlights the persistent concentration of Ghana’s fixed-income market in sovereign instruments.
For capital-market development, broadening activity beyond government debt will remain important. A deeper corporate bond market could provide companies with alternative sources of long-term finance while giving pension funds, insurers and other institutional investors a wider pool of assets through which to diversify portfolios.
For now, government debt continues to define the GFIM.
With GH¢2.34 billion changing hands during the August 11 session and DDEP securities accounting for 59.38% of that amount, the trading pattern reinforces the central role of post-restructuring government bonds in Ghana’s secondary fixed-income market, even as Treasury bills continue to generate almost all of the market’s individual transactions.
