Gov’t borrows GHC4b in January

Government borrowed a total of GHC4.63 billion from both local and foreign investors to finance its activities for January 2016.

The loans were raised from Tenders 1467 held on 8th January, 2016 and issued on January 11, 2016; 1468 held on 15th January, 2016 for Government of Ghana securities and issued on 18th January, 2016; 1469 held on 22nd January, 2016 and issued on 25th January, 2016 and 1470 held on 29th January, 2016 and issued on February 1, 2016.

Tender 1467 yielded GHC1,761.47 million (or GHC1.76 billion) while Tender 1468 yielded GHC1,021.31 million (or GHC1.02 billion) and Tender 1469 raised GHC963.82 million. Tender 1470 produced GHC887.79 million.

For January this year, GHC2,100 million was scheduled to be collected via the 91-day T-bill, with GHC1,700 million planned to be received from the 182-day T-bill.

Also, some GHC120 million was billed to be contracted via the 1-Year Note, GHC300 million from the 2-Year Note, and GHC500 million from the 3-Year bond while a yet-to-be specified amount was to be borrowed from the 5-Year Fixed Rate Bond.

According to its borrowing calendar for the first half of this year - the Medium Term Debt Strategy (MDTS) - forecast maturities would make up GHC27,779.00 million of the amount to be borrowed while net issuance would total GHC2,951.00 million.

In 2015, government borrowed about GHC50 billion through its Issuance Calendar for its securities.

A large chunk of the money borrowed was used to pay back loans it contracted from resident and non-resident investors which had matured.

This year, government expects to borrow an amount of GHC30.47 billion for the first half from the issuance of bonds, notes and Treasury bills.