- Treasury Bills Capture More Than Half Of GH¢1.53bn Fixed-Income Trading
Trading activity on the Ghana Fixed Income Market rose sharply on Monday, driven by increased demand for Treasury bills and larger transactions in repurchase-style government bond trades.
Total market turnover reached GH¢1.53bn on September 28, an increase of 20.1 per cent from GH¢1.28bn in the previous trading session on September 25.
The expansion in value occurred despite the number of transactions declining from 314 to 276, suggesting that the session was driven by fewer but substantially larger institutional trades.
Average value per transaction consequently increased from approximately GH¢4.1mn to GH¢5.6m.
The pattern reinforces the defensive character of Ghana’s fixed-income market. Investors are trading actively, but most of the liquidity remains concentrated in government securities offering either short maturities or structures that can support liquidity management.
Treasury bills recorded GH¢830.53m in turnover across 239 transactions, accounting for 54.1 per cent of total market activity.
The segment’s turnover increased by GH¢223.88mn, or 36.9 per cent, from GH¢606.65m in the previous session.
Activity was heavily concentrated in a small number of maturities.
The Treasury bill maturing on June 21, 2027, generated GH¢306.04m across seven trades, representing 36.8 per cent of total bill turnover. It closed at a yield of about 8.57 per cent and a price of GH¢94.11.
The July 26, 2027, bill followed with turnover of GH¢180.76m across 24 transactions at a closing yield of approximately 9.03 per cent.
Together, the two instruments accounted for GH¢486.81mn, or 58.6 per cent, of all Treasury-bill trading during the session.
Other significant trades included GH¢88.02m in the March 15, 2027 bill, GH¢72.95m in the August 2, 2027 maturity and GH¢63.39m in the January 18, 2027 instrument.
The dominance of Treasury bills suggests that investors continue to place a premium on liquidity and relatively short duration.
This does not necessarily indicate an absence of confidence in government credit. It shows that market participants prefer instruments that allow them to manage reinvestment, interest-rate and liquidity risks without committing funds to longer maturities.
Domestic Debt Exchange Programme bonds generated GH¢499.21m across 22 transactions, representing 32.5 per cent of total turnover.
Activity declined by 5.7 per cent from GH¢529.11m in the preceding session, while the number of trades fell sharply from 43 to 22.
As with Treasury bills, DDEP activity was concentrated in a few large transactions.
The February 2029 bond recorded GH¢200m in three trades, accounting for 40.1 per cent of total DDEP turnover. Its closing yield rose by 14 basis points from 13.49 per cent to 13.63 per cent, while the closing price settled at GH¢90.10.
The February 2032 bond followed with GH¢117.41m at a closing yield of 14.25 per cent, down 11 basis points from its opening level.
Turnover in the February 2027 and February 2031 bonds reached GH¢72.50m and GH¢70m respectively.
The four instruments collectively accounted for about 92.1 per cent of DDEP trading, highlighting the narrow concentration of secondary-market liquidity.
Yield movements were mixed. The February 2027 bond closed 50 basis points higher at 11.10 per cent, while the 2028 bond declined by 12 basis points to 12 per cent.
The 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2035 bonds also recorded lower closing yields, suggesting selective buying interest in parts of the curve rather than a broad and uniform repricing of government debt.
Sell/buy-back transactions in government bonds increased by 50.1 per cent to GH¢204.44m, although the number of trades declined from 28 to 10.
Two long-dated DDEP securities dominated the category.
The February 2036 bond recorded GH¢142.68m in two transactions at a yield of 14.47 per cent, while the February 2037 instrument generated GH¢58.84m across three trades at 14.57 per cent.
Together, the two securities accounted for 98.6 per cent of sell/buy-back turnover.
The increase in this segment points to stronger demand for secured short-term funding and balance-sheet liquidity using government bonds as underlying collateral. It should therefore not be interpreted in the same way as outright investor demand for long-term securities.
Trading in new government bonds fell to only GH¢100,000 from GH¢2.85m in the previous session.
The sole instrument traded was the September 2030 bond, which closed at a yield of 12.22 per cent and a price of GH¢99.31.
Old government bonds generated GH¢410,000, an increase from the unusually low GH¢10,104 recorded in the previous session. Despite the percentage increase, their contribution to total market activity remained negligible.
No corporate bond transactions were recorded. This compares with GH¢2.52m in the preceding session and underlines the continuing weakness of Ghana’s corporate secondary-debt market.
Government-linked instruments accounted for the entire GH¢1.53bn traded on Monday.
That concentration limits the market’s broader role in channelling long-term capital to private companies. A functioning fixed-income market should eventually provide liquidity not only for public debt but also for banks, infrastructure companies and other corporate issuers.
Monday’s increase in turnover indicates that liquidity remains available within the fixed-income market. However, the distribution of that liquidity is more revealing than the headline number.
More than half of turnover went into Treasury bills, while nearly all the remaining activity was concentrated in DDEP bonds and collateralised sell/buy-back transactions.
Investor behaviour therefore continues to favour liquidity, shorter duration and government-backed instruments.
Treasury bills are likely to remain the market’s principal source of turnover in the near term, particularly as investors assess inflation, cedi pressures and the direction of monetary policy.
Longer-dated DDEP bonds may continue to attract selective institutional demand where yields compensate investors for duration and liquidity risks. But the concentration of activity in only a handful of maturities means the yield curve remains less liquid than aggregate turnover might suggest.
The absence of corporate bond trades is equally important. It shows that increased GFIM turnover does not yet amount to a broad revival of fixed-income intermediation.
Monday’s GH¢1.53bn session was active, but it was also defensive: larger trades, fewer transactions and a decisive preference for instruments that preserve liquidity.
