T-Bills: Gov’t on ‘losing streak’ as it misses auction target for four straight weeks
The government seems to be on a losing streak with regards to the subscription of its short term debt instruments – the 91, 182 and 364 days treasury bills.
Just as has been the trend for the past three weeks, government failed to once again achieve the GHS 2.06bn target set for the 91, 182 and 364 days T-Bills auctioned on November 11, 2022.
The government missed its auction target by GHS 84m managing to secure some GHS 1,976m.
In the previous auction – November 7 – government missed its auction target by GHS 81m as it managed to secure GHS 1,235m from the auction of a 91, 182 and 364 days T-bills.
This was against a total auction target of GHS 1,316 million.
The first time government missed its auction target was on October 21 when subscription of T-Bills fell by GHS 252m below the auction target.
The second was on October 28 when government once again fell short of its auction target by GHS 424m.
The trend in undersubscription of government treasury bills begun when government failed to secure a deal with the IMF after weeks of negotiations in Washington DC.
Securing a deal with the IMF would have boosted investor confidence to invest in government’s short term debt instruments.
In the recent auction which government targeted GHS 2,060 million, bids for the 91, 182 and 364 days T-Bills amounted to GHS 1,827 million, GHS 142 million and GHS 7 million respectively with government accepting all bids made the 91, 182 and 364 days T-Bills.
The 91, 182 and 364 days T-Bills were auctioned at interest rates of 35%, 36% and 35.3% respectively.
Government, in its next auction – November 18 – is aiming at raising some GHS 1,168 million from the issuance of the 91 and 182 day bills.
