- GFIM Trading Reaches GH¢385.94bn By October, With Corporate Activity Still Marginal
Ghana’s fixed-income market has recorded GH¢385.94 billion in trading volume from January to October 2026, already exceeding every full-year total shown for 2021 to 2025 in the latest market report. But beneath the headline growth is a structural imbalance: government securities account for almost all the trading, while corporate securities contribute just over 1%.
The Ghana Fixed Income Market’s October report puts year-to-date volume at GH¢385.94 billion, up 81.70% from GH¢212.40 billion over the same period in 2025. Traded value rose 122.79% to GH¢350.06 billion, while the number of recorded trades increased 30.20% to 359,616.
October itself was active. The market recorded GH¢48.13 billion in volume, 65.25% higher than in October 2025, and GH¢43.10 billion in traded value, up 66.17%. The number of trades rose more sharply, by 165.45%, to 41,232.
The report also shows October volume was the highest monthly figure so far in 2026, narrowly above August’s GH¢48.99 billion? No: August’s reported volume was GH¢48.99 billion, which is higher. October was therefore among the year’s strongest months, but not the highest.
That increase signals substantial activity in government debt. It does not, by itself, show that Ghanaian businesses are gaining broad access to long-term finance through the market. Government securities made up GH¢381.47 billion of the GH¢385.91 billion shown in the report’s segment comparison for January to October—about 98.85%. Corporate securities contributed GH¢4.43 billion, or roughly 1.15%.
The government share was similarly dominant in October. The segment table recorded GH¢48.03 billion in government-security volume and GH¢78.10 million in corporate-security volume. The figures point to a market where trading is expanding, but where the state remains the principal source of instruments and activity.
The contrast matters because capital markets are often expected to do more than facilitate government borrowing. A deeper corporate debt market could give companies another funding route for investment and reduce their reliance on bank loans or retained earnings.
Yet the report’s figures show that corporate trading volume for January to October grew by only about 2.77% from a year earlier, compared with a surge in government-security trading.
Corporate traded value did rise, from GH¢3.77 billion to GH¢4.50 billion, and the number of corporate trades increased from 504 to 2,156. Those movements are positive, but the segment remains small compared with the government market. More activity in company securities will be needed before the fixed-income market can be described as a substantial source of private-sector funding.
The outstanding securities figures show that corporate issuance is growing, even if secondary-market activity remains limited. The report puts outstanding corporate securities at GH¢11.90 billion in October 2026, compared with GH¢8.40 billion a year earlier.
That increase includes GH¢3.40 billion in Cocoa Capital commercial paper, issued in October to support the financing needs of the cocoa sector.
The Cocoa Capital issue illustrates the distinction between raising funds and developing a liquid market. The report records the 266-day commercial paper issuance at GH¢3.40 billion, but only GH¢18.29 million of volume traded in that security during October.
A successful primary issuance can provide immediate financing to an issuer; it does not automatically create frequent secondary trading or a dependable market for investors seeking to sell before maturity.
Government debt activity also reflects a substantial shift towards Treasury bills. The report lists GH¢177.82 billion in Treasury bill trading volume from January to October, with GH¢203.65 billion in government notes and bonds. It records 91-day bill volume of GH¢29.21 billion, 182-day bills at GH¢28.32 billion and 364-day bills at GH¢120.29 billion.
The 364-day bill was the largest of those categories by a wide margin. Its outstanding amount rose to GH¢126.07 billion in October, from GH¢10.39 billion a year earlier. Across all government securities, the amount outstanding increased to GH¢444.69 billion from GH¢265.78 billion.
This expansion in short-term government paper has implications for how the market is developing. Treasury bills are heavily traded, but a large reliance on short-term instruments can mean more frequent refinancing needs for the government.
The figures alone do not establish the cost or risk of that borrowing, but they make the maturity composition of issuance an important part of the market’s story.
The primary-market data offer a further signal. In October, the government tendered GH¢15.91 billion in 91-day, 182-day and 364-day bills and accepted GH¢12.46 billion. A year earlier, it accepted GH¢17.51 billion of GH¢17.83 billion tendered.
The lower acceptance in 2026 may reflect changes in funding needs, pricing or issuance decisions; the report does not explain the reasons. It should not be read as a direct measure of investor appetite on its own.
The report also shows a substantial fall in bill yields compared with October 2025: the 91-day yield is listed at 4.56%, against 10.82% a year earlier; the 182-day yield at 6.14%, against 16.36%; and the 364-day yield at 9.61%, against 12.50%.
Lower yields can reduce borrowing costs for the government and change returns available to investors, but they also make the relationship between demand, inflation expectations and future issuance worth watching.
There is a data-quality issue that deserves attention. The report’s aggregate and segment tables do not reconcile exactly. Its headline summary gives January–October volume of GH¢385.94 billion, while the monthly table totals GH¢385.93 billion and the government-plus-corporate comparison gives GH¢385.91 billion.
The reported trade counts also differ slightly across sections. These gaps are small relative to the overall totals, but reconciling them would help readers assess the market’s performance with greater confidence.
The October report offers evidence of a fast-growing fixed-income market, but not yet of a balanced one. Rising government-security turnover and the expansion of outstanding corporate instruments are important developments. The harder test is whether more companies can issue securities and whether those instruments attract enough repeat trading to provide investors with genuine liquidity.
Until corporate securities account for a larger share of both issuance and trading, the GFIM’s record activity will remain principally a story about government debt. The next measure of progress is not only how much volume the market records, but how widely its financing reaches.
