- Ghana Fixed Income Trading Rises to GH¢12.82bn as Investors Return to Longer Bonds
Trading on the Ghana Fixed Income Market surged 42.25% in the week ending August 14, 2026, as renewed activity in Domestic Debt Exchange Programme bonds lifted total turnover to GH¢12.82 billion from GH¢9.01 billion a week earlier.
The increase of about GH¢3.81 billion points to a significant improvement in secondary-market activity, with investors concentrating heavily on restructured government bonds while Treasury bills maintained a sizeable share of trading. DDEP bonds and Treasury bills together generated approximately GH¢11.95 billion, accounting for more than 93.00% of the week’s activity.
DDEP bonds were overwhelmingly the largest market segment, recording GH¢8.64 billion in turnover compared with GH¢5.67 billion in the previous week, an increase of 52.43%. They accounted for 67.42% of total GFIM trading, reinforcing their position as the principal source of liquidity in the longer-dated government securities market.
The performance suggests that although Treasury bills continue to attract substantial activity, investors and institutional portfolio managers remain deeply engaged with the post-restructuring government bond curve.
Treasury bill trading increased more modestly, rising 4.64% to GH¢3.30 billion from GH¢3.16 billion a week earlier and representing 25.78% of total market activity. The relatively stable performance of the segment contrasts with the much sharper movement in longer-dated bonds, indicating that the week’s overall increase was primarily a DDEP story rather than a broad surge across every category. Treasury bills nevertheless remain important to investors seeking shorter-duration government exposure and greater liquidity without assuming the price sensitivity associated with longer maturities.
Sell-buyback transactions also recorded a significant increase, with turnover reaching GH¢797.65 million from GH¢177.29 million in the previous week, equivalent to growth of approximately 349.91%. The segment accounted for 6.22% of total market turnover, considerably more than corporate securities and the relatively thin trading recorded in conventional government bonds outside the DDEP programme. The increase suggests greater use of government securities in short-term liquidity and financing transactions during the week.
Corporate securities recorded one of the largest percentage increases, rising to GH¢71.78 million from just GH¢4.22 million, although the segment still represented only 0.56% of overall GFIM activity.
The increase is encouraging for a market in which corporate debt remains considerably less liquid than government instruments, but the absolute numbers continue to highlight the limited depth of Ghana’s secondary corporate bond market. Developing that segment remains important if companies are to rely more meaningfully on capital-market financing rather than conventional bank credit.
Activity in old government bonds and recently issued government securities remained negligible by comparison. Old GoG bonds recorded turnover of about GH¢1.10 million, while new government bonds generated just GH¢524,054, meaning both categories together represented substantially less than 0.02% of weekly trading.
The concentration illustrates how Ghana’s secondary fixed-income market continues to revolve principally around DDEP securities and Treasury bills despite the gradual emergence of new government issuance.
Within the DDEP curve, the eight-year securities were the most actively traded tenor, recording approximately GH¢3.58 billion during the week, sharply higher than GH¢903.60 million in the previous period.
Four-year DDEP bonds followed with GH¢1.47 billion, compared with GH¢542.66 million previously, while nine-year securities generated GH¢1.10 billion despite declining from GH¢1.98 billion a week earlier. Five-year DDEP turnover climbed to GH¢728.34 million, while 14-year bonds recorded about GH¢600.70 million, showing that activity was distributed across several maturities rather than concentrated exclusively at the shorter end.
This shift in trading was accompanied by generally lower yields across several points of the curve, although movements were mixed. The nine-year DDEP yield declined to 14.60% from 15.14%, a fall of 54 basis points, while the 11-year yield dropped 44 basis points to 14.95% and the 14-year yield eased 31 basis points to 15.26%. The eight-year yield declined to 14.62% from 14.78%, while the 12-year yield eased to 15.20% from 15.32%, indicating stronger pricing across several medium- and longer-dated securities.
The newly issued seven-year government bond also experienced a meaningful yield decline, moving to 12.11% from 12.37%, although trading volume remained extremely small. By contrast, the four-year yield increased 26 basis points to 11.73%, while the 15-year yield rose 41 basis points to 15.85%, demonstrating that demand was not uniform across the curve. The five-year yield was virtually unchanged at 13.39%, while six-, 10- and 13-year yields were effectively stable.
For investors, the shape of the curve continues to reflect the compensation demanded for taking longer-term sovereign exposure. Yields move from 11.73% around the four-year point towards the mid-15.00% range at several longer maturities, while the new seven-year bond continues to trade at a materially lower yield than comparable DDEP securities. That difference makes the distinction between the restructured debt stock and newer government issuance increasingly important when interpreting Ghana’s fixed-income pricing.
The week’s figures also demonstrate why headline turnover alone does not necessarily indicate a uniformly deeper market. Nearly seven out of every 10 cedis traded were concentrated in DDEP bonds, while another quarter came from Treasury bills, leaving relatively little activity across corporate securities and newer government debt.
A deeper fixed-income market would eventually require stronger liquidity across a wider range of instruments and issuers, particularly corporate debt that can channel institutional savings directly into productive private-sector investment.
Still, the rise from GH¢9.01 billion to GH¢12.82 billion represents a substantial rebound in weekly secondary-market activity, with the strongest signal coming from the DDEP segment. The more important development is the combination of higher turnover and declining yields across several longer maturities, which points to firmer pricing in selected parts of the government bond curve even as investors continue to differentiate sharply between tenors.
For Ghana’s fixed-income market, the week therefore delivered more than a 42.25% increase in turnover. It showed where liquidity currently resides: overwhelmingly in restructured government debt and Treasury bills, with GH¢8.64 billion of DDEP trading alone determining much of the market’s direction.
The next stage of market development will depend on whether that liquidity can gradually spread across new government securities and corporate bonds, creating a broader fixed-income market rather than one whose depth remains concentrated in a relatively narrow set of sovereign instruments.
