A single Treasury bill accounted for almost a quarter of the GH¢1.28 billion traded, showing how narrow liquidity remains on Ghana’s fixed income market.
Ghana's fixed income market turned over GH¢1.28 billion on Friday, 25 September, but almost all of that money moved through just two types of government paper.
Treasury bills and bonds created under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) together accounted for GH¢1.14 billion, or close to 89 per cent of the day's business on the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM), the platform where government and corporate debt securities are traded after issue. The figures come from the GFIM daily trading report, as carried by Norvan Reports.
Where the money went
Treasury bills — short-term government IOUs — led on both value and volume, with GH¢606.65 million from 230 trades. That is 47.5 per cent of turnover and more than 73 per cent of the 314 transactions recorded in the session.
DDEP bonds, the restructured securities investors received when Ghana reorganised its domestic debt, followed with GH¢529.11 million across 43 trades, or 41.4 per cent of turnover.
Sell-buyback deals in government bonds — short-term arrangements banks use to raise cash while temporarily handing over securities — added GH¢136.23 million from 28 trades.
Everything else barely registered. New government bonds managed GH¢2.85 million, corporate bonds GH¢2.52 million, and old government securities just GH¢10,104.
One bill, a quarter of the market
The most striking number is in a single instrument. A Treasury bill maturing on 21 June 2027 recorded GH¢303.23 million in turnover through only five transactions. That is nearly half of all Treasury bill activity and 23.7 per cent of the entire market. It closed at a price of 93.9185, a yield of about 8.76 per cent.
Five trades of that size point to large institutional players rather than ordinary retail investors.
Other bills showed yields rising slightly with maturity: the 5 July 2027 bill closed around 8.94 per cent, and the 2 August 2027 bill around 9.27 per cent.
On the DDEP side, the February 2032 bond led with GH¢147.21 million from seven trades, closing at a yield of 14.36 per cent and a price of 80.6914 — well below face value, because the market is demanding far more than its 9.10 per cent coupon. Four DDEP bonds, maturing in 2029, 2030, 2031 and 2032, produced GH¢463.65 million, about 87.6 per cent of that segment.
Corporate debt still tiny
Corporate bonds made up less than 0.2 per cent of turnover, with two Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) securities accounting for all GH¢2.52 million.
Stripping out Treasury bills, DDEP bonds and sell-buybacks, outright trading in the rest of the market came to roughly GH¢5.38 million.
For investors, including Ghanaians abroad holding local instruments, the practical lesson is that how easily you can sell depends heavily on which security you hold. For policymakers, activity has recovered since the debt restructuring, but liquidity is still concentrated in a handful of state-issued papers.
