Ghana raises 1.12 bln USD in domestic bonds

Ghana came out of the market late Friday with 4.87 billion Ghana cedis (1.12 billion U.S. dollars) in two concurrent domestic market bonds.

The lead arrangers-- Barclays Bank, Stanbic Bank and Strategic African Securities (SAS), said in their closing documents that the government raised 3.42 billion cedis (790 million dollars) from its first ever 15-year domestic bond issued on Friday, at a yield of 19.75 percent.

At the same time the government also accepted 1.45 billion cedis (335 million dollars) in a separate seven-year domestic bond at a yield of 19.75 percent.

The government has been using such longer-dated debt facilities to restructure its growing public debt, some of which are in short term Treasury bills.

The Friday's bonds issued through the book-building approach were also open to foreign investors, with settlement due on Monday.

Growing public debt and a more than 10 percent fiscal slippage forced the previous government led by John Dramani Mahama to enter a three year Extended Credit Facility deal worth 918 million dollars with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The government announced on Friday it will go to the domestic capital market to raise 22.25 billion cedis (5.1 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2017, after it was scheduled to raise 17.4 billion cedis (4.0 billion dollars) from the local market during the first quarter. Endit