The Akufo-Addo government has successfully borrowed over Ghc2billion from the local money market through bonds that it floated at very high-interest rates.
The Government accepted all bids for a 7-year cedi bond and a 3-year dollar bond issuance, according to auctioning results obtained from the Bank of Ghana.
For the 7-year cedi bond, it raised ¢1.03 billion at a rate of 20.5%. on the other hand, 388.9 million dollars was raised for the 3-year dollar bond at an interest of 4.75%.
The funds are mainly meant to go into servicing government debts that are maturing, meaning the government is borrowing more to pay what it already owes.
Already the country’s debt has spiraled to some Ghc263 billion and is projected to have a debt to GDP ratio of 76.7%.
And as usual, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s Data Bank financial services, which is mired in the Agyapa corruption scandal, was one of the book runners. It jointly underwrote the bonds with Absa, Fidelity, IC Securities, and Stanbic banks.
Earlier on November 5, the Government had accepted all bids for the 2-year bond issuance, raising GHS768 million at an interest rate of 18.50%.