- Trading nearly doubles in value in March as bond activity surges and yields fall sharply
Trading on the Ghana Fixed Income Market accelerated sharply in March, with turnover in value terms almost doubling from a year earlier as investors continued to rotate heavily through government securities in a lower-yield environment. Total volume traded in March reached GH¢35.84bn, up 77.13% from GH¢20.23bn in March 2025, while total value traded rose even faster to GH¢32.59bn, representing a 99.60% year-on-year increase. The number of trades edged up more modestly to 41,350, from 40,662 a year earlier.
That combination tells an engaging story. Activity is not rising simply because the market is doing more small deals. Rather, it suggests that larger value is returning to the market through sovereign paper, even as the structure of participation remains familiar: government securities still overwhelmingly dominate the trading landscape.
According to the report, government securities accounted for GH¢35.24bn of March trading volume, compared with just GH¢595.4m for corporate securities. In value terms, government paper generated GH¢32.01bn, against GH¢586.9m for corporates. That means Ghana’s fixed income market remains, in substance, a sovereign market with a corporate segment attached to it rather than a genuinely diversified credit market.
The composition of trading reinforces that point. Treasury bills accounted for GH¢15.50bn in March volume, while government notes and bonds contributed GH¢19.74bn. Corporate securities made up only 1.66% of total volume traded during the month.
Within that government-led structure, activity was concentrated in a handful of securities. On page 5 of the report, the most actively traded instrument in volume terms was the Government of Ghana 91-day bill, with GH¢3.53bn traded across 28,363 deals. The 182-day bill followed with GH¢3.49bn over 7,886 trades, while the 364-day bill recorded GH¢8.47bn over 3,228 trades. Among the longer-dated bonds, the 9-year GoG bond was the standout, with GH¢7.75bn in traded volume and GH¢6.49bn in traded value across 202 deals. The 4-year bond also saw heavy activity, with GH¢4.13bn traded.
The corporate side of the market was far smaller but still active in selected names. The Ghana Cocoa Board’s 5-year fixed-rate bond recorded GH¢440.6m in volume and GH¢428.5m in value, while its 3-year and 4-year bonds posted GH¢76.1m and GH¢78.4m, respectively. Bayport and Izwe securities also traded, though in much smaller amounts.
The year-to-date picture is even more striking. For the first quarter of 2026, GFIM recorded GH¢114.39bn in total volume traded and GH¢103.57bn in value, compared with GH¢59.24bn and GH¢48.19bn, respectively, in the same period of 2025. That translates into growth of 93.08% in volume and 114.93% in value. The number of trades rose to 138,925, from 132,808.
If the trading data speaks to liquidity, the yield curve speaks to confidence or at least to a profoundly altered pricing environment. The March 2026 yield curve shows a dramatic decline relative to March 2025 across every tenor. The 4-year yield stood at 10.52%, down from 22.48% a year earlier. The 5-year fell to 11.00% from 22.32%, the 7-year to 12.91% from 24.00%, and the 14-year to 12.84% from 25.11%. Even the 15-year bond was yielding 12.40%, compared with 22.50% in March 2025.
That reset in yields is perhaps the most thought-provoking feature of the report. It signals not only a market repricing after Ghana’s recent debt restructuring and macro- stabilisation efforts, but also a broader shift in how investors are valuing sovereign duration risk. A year ago, yields above 22% reflected both inflation fears and sovereign stress. Today, the curve is dramatically lower, but it remains shaped by a market still deeply dependent on government paper and only lightly exposed to corporate credit.
The primary market data adds another layer. In March 2026, the government tendered GH¢38.05bn across 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day bills but accepted GH¢26.20bn, compared with GH¢34.14bn accepted in March 2025. That suggests the state remains active in short-term funding, but issuance acceptance has moderated from year-ago levels despite much stronger secondary market turnover.
Outstanding securities continue to be substantial. Total outstanding government securities stood at GH¢340.08bn in March 2026, up from GH¢313.09bn a year earlier, while outstanding corporate securities rose more modestly to GH¢8.38bn from GH¢8.28bn. Treasury bills alone accounted for more than GH¢134.26bn outstanding, while the 15-year government bond remained one of the largest individual buckets at GH¢44.83bn.
The market’s institutional hierarchy also remains concentrated. On page 9, GCB Bank ranked first among banks on the sell side in March, with GH¢4.04bn traded and an 18.31% share by value. Stanbic Bank Ghana followed with GH¢2.38bn, while OmniBSIC, Fidelity, and CalBank rounded out the top five. Among broker-dealers, One Africa Securities dominated, accounting for 75.24% of value traded in March. Among custodian banks, Stanbic Ghana Custody Services led with 25.09% by value.
For investors, the March report points to three conclusions. First, Ghana’s fixed income market is liquid and active, with turnover rebounding strongly. Second, the market has repriced sharply lower on yields, reflecting a different macro and sovereign risk backdrop from a year ago. Third, for all that improvement, the market remains structurally narrow. Government paper still defines the market’s scale, direction, and liquidity, while corporate debt remains too small to challenge that dominance.
That leaves Ghana with a paradox. The fixed-income market is clearly functioning again and functioning at scale. But the deeper test of market maturity is still ahead: whether the country can convert a sovereign-heavy trading platform into a broader capital market that genuinely channels long-term funding into the private economy. For now, March’s numbers show a market that is recovering impressively but still leaning heavily on the state.
