Govt. launches ₵500mil 5-year bond on Ghana Stock Exchange

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November 23, 2015 2:43 PM

This is in line with the Minister of Finance's revelation that government is planing to finance the 2016 budget deficit of ₵8.5 billion by raising funds on the local and international markets.

Ministry of Finance has floated medium and long term loans on the Ghana Stock Exchange today.

He also revealed plans to use the Stock Exchange instead of the Bank of Ghana, in order to open up opportunities for financial planners like insurance companies and Pension Funds who have access to dormant funds to invest.

The ministry has therefore issued a five year bond Monday morning to raise some ₵500 million from the Ghana Stock Exchange.

The money is supposed to be used to refinance maturing debts.

Government met with the book makers this morning at the finance ministry for advice on the requisite rates and other modalities relevant for the move.

Pulse Business' checks reveal that the transaction advisors include Standard Chartered Ghana Limited, Stanbic Bank, and SAX securities.

Hitherto, government would raise these monies in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana. But with the IMF's restrictions on the Bank of Ghana role in financing Ghana's budge deficits.

This means that the three investment entities, Standard Chartered, Stanbic and SAX will be the main intermediaries between investors and govenment.

So interest investors will apply for the bonds through these three banks, with their different asking rates. The banks will then aggregate all the amount of bonds demanded and their corresponding prices and strike an average.

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