Gov’t raises GHS 3.52bn in fresh debt over the week
Government, last week raised a total of GHS 3.52bn in fresh domestic debt from the issuance of 91, 182 and 364 day treasury bills as well as a three year cedi-denominated note.
Government, in the issuance of the 91, 182 and 364 day treasury bills accepted a total amount of GHS 2.41bn exceeding its original auction target of GHS 1.94bn.
The extra GHS 1.12bn was from the issuance of the three year cedi-denominated note.
The treasury note government noted, will be used as rollover for a maturing 5 year cedi-denominated bond.
The three year senior unsecured cedi note is expected to mature in July 2025.
Bids tendered for the 91 and 182 day treasury bills were GHS 1.27bn and GHS 975m of which government accepted all the GHS 1.27bn in the case of the 91 day treasury bill but GHS 974m in the case of the 182 day treasury bill.
For the 364 day treasury bill, bids tendered by primary dealers, banks, pension funds and asset management companies amounted to GHS 162m of which the government accepted GHS 158m.
The newly acquired GHS 3.52bn debt over the week comes to add on to the government’s domestic debt of GHS 190.1bn as at the end June 2022.
According to new data released by the Bank of Ghana, Ghana’s public debt in nominal terms has reached GHS 393.4bn.
The new debt figure of GHS 393.4bn represents an increase of GHS 41.7bn from the GHS 351.7bn (70.0% of GDP) total public debt recorded in January 2022.
On a year-on-year basis, the country’s debt marks an increase of GHS 58.6bn – from June 2021 to June 2022.
Accounting for the chunk of the country’s public debt was domestic debt which has now increased to GHS 190.1bn from the GHS 181.9bn recorded in January 2022.
Domestic debt as a percentage of GDP as at end-June 2022, stood at 37.8%.
External debt under the review period also increased to GHS 203.4bn from GHS 169.8bn in January 2022.
As a percentage of GDP, external debt as at end-June 2022, stood at 40.5%.
