- Treasury Bills and Restructured Bonds Account For 90% Of Fixed-Income Trading
Ghana’s fixed-income market recorded GH¢987.35 million in trading volume on Wednesday, November 11, across 199 transactions.
But the headline total masks a concentrated market: domestic debt exchange bonds and Treasury bills together accounted for about 90% of activity, while corporate bonds and commercial paper represented less than 1%.
The Ghana Fixed Income Market’s “GRAND TOTALS” row records GH¢987,351,172 in volume. DDEP bonds led with GH¢533.73 million across 16 trades, followed by Treasury bills at GH¢357.53 million across 155 trades.
Sell/buy-back transactions involving government notes and bonds added GH¢89.77 million in 14 trades.
Those three categories contributed about GH¢981.04 million, or 99.36% of the session’s total. Corporate bonds accounted for GH¢1.93 million across six trades, and commercial paper contributed GH¢4.39 million across eight.
No trades were recorded in new Government of Ghana notes and bonds or green and sustainable bonds.
The pattern is a reminder that a large daily turnover does not necessarily mean a deep or diversified market. Activity was substantial in volume terms, but it remained overwhelmingly tied to government securities.
The share of private-sector instruments was small, limiting what the session alone can say about the capacity of Ghanaian companies to raise long-term funds through the domestic market.
DDEP bonds were the largest source of activity. The detailed schedule shows GH¢463.45 million traded in the 2023-GC-3 bond maturing in February 2029, in 10 transactions. Its closing yield was 14.19%, with the closing price at 89.54.
The market summary’s largest-volume table lists a higher GH¢465.52 million and 13 trades for the same security. The difference corresponds to GH¢2.06 million in three sell/buy-back trades in that bond, indicating that the summary combines outright and repo activity for its instrument-level ranking.
That distinction matters when reading the data. The GH¢463.45 million in the DDEP schedule is not the same measure as the GH¢465.52 million combined figure: the latter includes the matching sell/buy-back transactions.
The exchange report presents both categories separately in its market-wide totals, so they should not be added together twice when assessing overall turnover.
Treasury bills presented a different profile. They generated 155 trades—nearly 78% of the day’s transaction count but GH¢357.53 million in volume, or about 36% of total market activity.
The report’s largest-volume bill was a government instrument maturing in February 2027, with GH¢103.44 million and 21 trades, a closing yield of 4.57% and a closing price of 98.89.
The contrast between bill and bond trading is useful. Treasury bills supplied the broadest number of transactions, suggesting activity across short-dated instruments, while a small number of longer-dated DDEP securities accounted for much of the value traded.
The figures show where trading occurred on one day; they do not, by themselves, establish whether demand for either category is strengthening or weakening.
The closing yield of 14.19% on the February 2029 DDEP bond, alongside a price of 89.54, also illustrates how different these instruments are from short-term bills. A bond trading below its face value can offer a yield above its coupon, depending on its cash flows and remaining maturity.
The day’s report provides a market snapshot, however, not a trend comparison. Without earlier sessions’ prices and yields, it would be premature to describe the movement as a rally, sell-off or shift in investor confidence.
Sell/buy-back trades added another layer. The GH¢89.77 million recorded across 14 transactions represents financing activity secured against government securities, rather than simply an outright transfer of bonds between investors. Its presence can provide short-term liquidity to market participants, but it should be read separately from the amount of securities changing hands in the outright market.
Corporate debt remained limited. Six corporate bond transactions totalled GH¢1.93 million. The largest disclosed corporate activity was in a Ghana Cocoa Board bond maturing in August 2028, with GH¢1.93 million across six trades and a closing price of 103.07.
The report also recorded GH¢4.39 million in eight trades in Cocoa Capital PLC’s commercial paper maturing in June 2027. The paper closed at 100.53 and carries an A rating from Beacon.
These trades demonstrate that non-government instruments are present on the market, but their scale was modest beside the sovereign and DDEP activity. Corporate bonds and commercial paper together contributed GH¢6.32 million, roughly 0.64% of total volume.
One session cannot establish a long-term pattern, but the gap highlights the challenge of building a deeper market in which companies can regularly obtain financing from domestic investors.
The absence of trades in new government notes and bonds should also be treated carefully. It means there were no completed transactions in those categories on November 11; it does not establish that investors showed no interest, that no orders were placed or that the securities could not trade on another day.
For investors, the session’s most useful signal is its composition. Treasury bills attracted the highest number of transactions, while restructured government bonds concentrated much of the value. For companies seeking capital, the small corporate share points to a market where the state remains the dominant borrower and the principal source of tradable securities.
A stronger fixed-income market would require more than rising daily turnover. It would need regular issuance by credible businesses, accessible and comparable financial information, investor confidence in repayment, and enough trading after issuance to let buyers enter or exit positions. Until those conditions develop, high activity in government paper can coexist with a corporate debt market that remains narrow.
Wednesday’s GH¢987.35 million total therefore tells two stories. The market can support substantial trading in government instruments and short-term bills. But private debt’s small contribution shows that this activity has yet to translate into a broad financing channel for Ghanaian businesses. The next test is whether corporate issuers can build a more consistent presence without relying on isolated transactions.
