Government, for the first quarter of 2021 borrowed a total of Ghs 56 billion in the auction of short–term securities on the domestic debt market.
This is according to the first quarter Quarterly Bulletin released by the Central Bank.
Borrowings by government was largely made through the issuance of 91, 182 and 364 days treasury bills.
Debt raised through the issuance of the 91 day T-bill amounted to Ghs 846.8 million, with regards to the 182 and 364 day T-bills, debts raised amounted to Ghs 1,355.9 million and Ghs 1,603.2 million respectively.
Per data released by the Central Bank, some Ghs 44.4 billion was used to settle matured debts with the remaining Ghs 11.5 billion used to finance government activities.
Overall, the stock of domestic debt at the end of the first quarter was Ghs 164.5 billion, indicating an increase of Ghs 13.8 billion compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
The growth in the domestic debt stock reflected increases in the short- and medium-term bonds and stocks by Ghs 3.8 billion and Ghs 9.9 billion respectively, with the long-term instruments increasing marginally by Ghs 96.4 million.
Overall, short-term debt for Q1 2021 grew by 22.6 percent.
Meanwhile, Government, for the second quarter of 2021 will be borrowing some additional Ghs 21.9 billion from the domestic debt market.
This is according to government’s debt issuance calendar for June, July and August.
Borrowings to be made by government within the specified period will largely be made through the weekly and bi-weekly issuance of 91, 182 and 364 days T-bills.
In addition to the T-bills issuance will be the issuance of 2-year and up to 10-year bonds through the book-building method.
Of the gross amount of Ghs 21,960.00 million to be borrowed, Ghs 19,864.43 million will be used to roll over maturities with the remaining Ghs 2,095.57 million used to meet government’s short-term financing requirements.
With increased borrowings on the domestic debt market, the country’s public debt stock is expected to rise with domestic debt as a ratio of government’s total debt stock also expected to increase.
Ghana’s total debt stock at the end of March 2021 was Ghs 304.6 billion, compared with the Ghs 292.7 billion at the end of December 2020.
Of the total debt stock, domestic debt was Ghs 163.6 billion (37.7 percent of GDP), while the external debt was Ghs 141.0 billion (32.5 percent of GDP).
The Issuance Calendar developed and based on the Net Domestic Financing provided in the 2021 Budget Statement and the Medium Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) for 2021-2024, forms part of efforts by government to improve market transparency in the issuance of Government securities.
It depicts securities that are intended to be issued in respect of Government’s Public Sector Borrowing Requirements for the period from June to August, 2021.
In addition, the calendar takes into consideration Government’s liability management programme, market developments (both domestic and international) and the Treasury & Debt Management objective of lengthening the maturity profile of the public debt.
