Kofi Ahovi

The Supreme Court has today [February 25, 2025] adjourned indefinitely a case filed by a private legal practitioner Jonathan Amable seeking to stop government from issuing Treasury Bills. The Attorney General’s Department told the court it will need more time to file a response to the issue. Amable in the application is arguing that government can only go ahead to issue Treasury Bills if it secures prior approval from Parliament.  The arguments were captured in the application filed at the Registry of the Supreme Court on November 11, 2024. The Motion for Interlocutory Injunction is seeking to stop government and its agents like the Finance Ministry and the Bank Ghana from borrowing through Treasury Bills.  Details of the application The application cite the Attorney General as the Defendant. Legal Arguments The Motion for Interlocutory Injunction is seeking to restrain government from undertaking any activity which constitutes borrowing or debt financing, until the final dete...

  Treasury bills and short-term securities will not be affected by the expected debt restructuring programme that the Government of Ghana will undertake after the completion of the Debt Sustainability Analysis by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. According to Associate Professor of Finance at Andrews University, Michigan, USA, Dr. Williams Peprah, the focus of the Debt Sustainability Analysis will be on long term bonds or securities. He added that the International Monetary Fund is likely to swap or take care of Ghana’s Eurobonds due in the next four years as part of the debt restructuring programme.  A total of $1.673 billion in Eurobonds will be maturing in the next four years. They include $148.76 million maturing in August 7, 2023 and the $525 million Zero Coupon maturing in 2025. Also, the $1 billion Eurobond (back-end amortization) which will mature in 2026 will be paid in three equal instalments. $300 million each will be paid to investors in 2024, 202...

  The government may face complicated refinancing options in repaying Treasury bills that will mature on October 2022 According to the Weekly Fixed Income Update by Databank Research, a refinancing offer on October 3, 2022, may not get much traction due to the expected domestic debt restructuring. It, therefore, pointed out that the government will likely supplement any refinancing offer with the Bank of Ghana support to get more favourable refinancing options. Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ghana’s Issuer Default Rating from ‘CCC’ to ‘CC’. They cited possible debt restructuring, high debt service, and constrained financing as reasons for the recent downgrade. This is expected to complicate the refinancing options of the Treasury on the maturing paper on October 3, 2022 as pricing for a refinancing offer will likely be unfavourable”. The government is expected to offer ¢905 million across the 91-day to 182-day bills to refinance total maturities worth ¢786.6 million. Treasury ...

  Government, fell short of achieving the set GHS 1.33bn target in the issuance of the 91 and 182 days treasury bills on the fixed income market. Government, in auctioning the short term debt instruments managed to secure GHS 1.19bn out of the targeted GHS 1.33bn. At the auction, offers tendered were below Government’s target as GHS 948 million was raised in 91-Day Bills and GHS 244 million in the 182-Day Bills. BREAKDOWN OF TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED THIS WEEK Treasuries  Bids Tendered    (GH¢ MN) Bids Accepted    (GH¢ MN) 91-Day T-Bill  948.14  948.02 182-Day T-Bill  244.28  244.28 TOTAL  1,192.42  1,192.30 The 91 day and 182 day bills were auctioned at interest rates of 30.5% and 31.6% respectively. RESULTS OF LAST WEEK’S TREASURY BILL AUCTION GOG Treasuries  Current  Previous  Change  91-Day T-Bills  30.18%  29.91%  0.27% 182-Day T-Bills  31.34%  31.14%  0.20% Recent...