- Ghana’s Fixed-Income Market Remains Heavily Concentrated in Government Debt
Trading on the Ghana Fixed Income Market reached a nominal value of GH¢1.92 billion on Thursday, October 30, 2026, with restructured government securities dominating activity and reinforcing the sovereign debt market’s central position in Ghana’s financial system.
The session recorded 473 transactions across government bonds, Treasury bills, corporate securities, commercial paper and sell-buy-back arrangements. However, the headline figure conceals a market that remains highly concentrated in government instruments, particularly bonds issued under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
DDEP bonds generated GH¢1.40 billion from 63 transactions, representing 73.05% of the session’s total nominal trading volume. Treasury bills followed with GH¢475.70 million, equivalent to 24.74% of total activity.
Together with old government bonds and sell-buy-back transactions involving government securities, public debt instruments accounted for approximately GH¢1.92 billion, or 99.72% of the entire market.
Corporate bonds and commercial paper collectively attracted just GH¢5.38 million, leaving private-sector securities with only 0.28% of total trading volume. No transactions were recorded in new government notes and bonds or green and sustainable bonds.
The figures point to two contrasting developments. Liquidity has returned to parts of Ghana’s restructured bond market, but the broader fixed-income market remains overwhelmingly dependent on government debt, with limited depth in corporate and sustainable finance.
DDEP trading was highly concentrated in two instruments.
The February 2031 bond, carrying an 8.95% coupon, recorded GH¢543.11 million across six trades. It was the most actively traded security by value and accounted for 38.66% of all DDEP bond volume.
The bond closed at a yield of 14.52% and a price of approximately GH¢82.60 for every GH¢100 of face value.
The February 2029 DDEP bond recorded another GH¢531.78 million from 28 transactions. It closed at a yield of 14.18% and a price of about GH¢89.43 for every GH¢100 of face value.
Combined, the two bonds generated GH¢1.07 billion. That represented 76.53% of DDEP bond trading and 55.90% of the entire fixed-income market’s nominal volume for the session.
Such concentration means more than half of the day’s market activity depended on just two restructured government bonds. It demonstrates that liquidity is available, but it is not yet broadly distributed across the maturity spectrum.
The scale of the transactions also suggests that DDEP activity was driven largely by institutional or block trades. The average DDEP transaction was worth approximately GH¢22.30 million, compared with an average of about GH¢1.31 million for Treasury bill transactions.
That difference is important. It suggests that the bond segment was dominated by a relatively small number of large transactions, while Treasury bill activity was spread across a much larger number of smaller trades.
DDEP securities may therefore have led the market by value without necessarily attracting the broadest level of participation.
The prices attached to the bonds also show that investors continue to demand significant compensation for holding medium- and long-term government debt.
The February 2027 DDEP bond, the shortest of the actively traded restructured instruments, closed at a yield of 10.93% and a price of approximately GH¢99.23. Trading in that instrument reached GH¢179 million through only two transactions.
Further along the maturity curve, yields increased progressively.
The February 2028 security closed at 12.49%, while the February 2029 and February 2030 bonds ended at 14.18% and 14.37%, respectively. The February 2031 bond closed at 14.52%, and the February 2032 instrument finished at 14.62%.
The February 2036 DDEP bond recorded the highest closing yield among the listed restructured securities at 15.37%. Its price stood at approximately GH¢72.36 for every GH¢100 of face value, although trading volume was comparatively small at GH¢1.46 million.
The upward movement in yields as maturities lengthened reflects the additional risks associated with committing capital for longer periods. These may include inflation uncertainty, sovereign credit risk, liquidity conditions and the possibility that investors will need to sell before maturity.
The steep discounts on longer-dated securities are also a reminder that renewed trading should not automatically be interpreted as a complete restoration of confidence following the domestic debt restructuring.
Investors are trading the instruments, but many remain priced materially below face value. Liquidity has returned selectively, while risk continues to be reflected through higher yields and lower market prices.
Treasury bills presented a different picture.
The segment recorded GH¢475.70 million from 364 transactions, accounting for 76.96% of all trades conducted during the session. Despite leading by transaction count, Treasury bills represented less than one-quarter of total nominal value.
The most actively traded bill was the instrument maturing on July 26, 2027. It generated GH¢258.91 million from 17 transactions and closed at a yield of about 8.55%, with a price of approximately GH¢94.06.
The high number of Treasury bill transactions relative to their overall value may indicate that investors continue to use short-term government securities for routine liquidity management. Treasury bills offer shorter holding periods and less exposure to changes in long-term interest rates than multi-year bonds.
This preference is understandable in a market still processing the effects of debt restructuring. Investors may be willing to participate in government securities but remain cautious about locking funds into long maturities without sufficient compensation.
Old government notes and bonds were nearly absent from the market, registering just GH¢78,000 across two transactions. No activity was recorded in the category classified as new government notes and bonds.
The limited trading in these segments underscores how completely the DDEP securities have reshaped Ghana’s domestic bond market. The restructured bonds are no longer merely a legacy of the debt exchange; they have become the principal instruments through which medium- and long-term sovereign debt is traded.
Sell-buy-back transactions involving government bonds generated GH¢37.03 million from 38 trades. The largest instrument in this segment was the February 2032 DDEP bond, which recorded GH¢15.54 million across 14 transactions, at a weighted average closing price of about GH¢84.43 and a yield of 13.28%.
Sell-buy-back arrangements allow market participants to exchange securities for cash with an agreement to reverse the transaction later. Their presence indicates that government bonds are being used for secured liquidity management, although the segment remained small at 1.93% of total activity.
Beyond government securities, activity was thin.
Corporate bond trading reached GH¢3.38 million from five transactions. A COCOBOD bond maturing in August 2028 accounted for GH¢2.37 million of that amount and closed at approximately GH¢103.21 for every GH¢100 of face value.
The commercial-paper market recorded only one transaction. Cocoa Capital PLC’s instrument maturing in June 2027 generated GH¢1.99 million and closed at a price of about GH¢99.50.
No trades were recorded in green and sustainable bonds. The absence of activity in this segment highlights the distance Ghana’s capital market must travel before environmental and sustainability-linked financing becomes a meaningful part of secondary-market trading.
The session therefore tells a story of recovery, but also of imbalance.
A nominal trading volume of GH¢1.92 billion demonstrates that Ghana’s fixed-income market can accommodate substantial transactions. DDEP bonds are finding buyers and sellers, Treasury bills remain highly active, and restructured securities are increasingly being used in liquidity operations.
Yet the market continues to revolve almost entirely around government debt. Corporate finance remains marginal, sustainable instruments are inactive, and liquidity in the DDEP segment is concentrated in a small number of securities and large transactions.
The next stage of market development will require more than rising turnover. It will depend on broader participation across maturities, deeper corporate issuance, stronger secondary-market liquidity and a credible pipeline of sustainable-finance instruments.
For now, government securities provide both the scale and the liquidity. But until private-sector instruments command a meaningful share of trading, Ghana’s fixed-income market will remain active without being fully diversified.
