Treasury bill yields ease as auction draws GH₵8.20 billion and fixed income trading nears GH₵1 billion

Pinned summary · as of 16:54

Investors bid GH₵8.20 billion at the latest Treasury bill auction, above the government's GH₵7.97 billion target, and yields slipped on all three tenors. Trading on the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) on 16 September came to GH₵968.22 million, with Treasury bills making up most of the activity.

What we know

• Treasury bill yields rise with maturity. At auction the 91-day bill cleared at 4.69%, the 182-day at 6.51% and the 364-day at 10.10%, and secondary trading on 16 September likewise showed shorter-dated bills at lower yields than longer ones.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

• ?
  The Publisher Online reported that bids of GH₵8.20 billion beat the GH₵7.97 billion target by about GH₵225.73 million (2.83%), that the government accepted GH₵7.21 billion, about 87.9% of the bids, and that total bids were 18% lower than a week earlier; no other report has confirmed these numbers.
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  The same report put the 91-day yield down about 11 basis points from 4.80%, the 182-day down about 17 basis points from 6.68%, and the 364-day down about one basis point from 10.11%. Bids were GH₵4.56 billion, GH₵2.07 billion and GH₵1.56 billion respectively, with GH₵4.52 billion, GH₵1.82 billion and GH₵867.93 million accepted.
• ?
  Analysts cited by The Publisher Online expect yields to keep falling, though they warned the pace may slow; the government has set a GH₵4.12 billion goal for its next sale. This is a forecast and has not been confirmed elsewhere.
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  Citing GFIM data, The Vaultz News reported turnover of GH₵968.22 million across 335 trades on 16 September, about 9.6% above the earlier sitting, which it put at roughly GH₵883.18 million. Bills made up GH₵624.64 million (64.5%) of that value and 283 of the trades; DDEP bonds added GH₵175.82 million, while GH₵157.23 million came from sell/buy-back deals.
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  According to The Vaultz News, the 364-day category led bill trading with GH₵338.63 million, ahead of the 91-day at GH₵174.83 million and the 182-day at GH₵111.18 million. Corporate bond turnover was GH₵6.44 million, all in COCOBOD securities, and the seven-year government bond saw no trades.

Why it matters for Ghana

Treasury bill rates set the benchmark for what banks, pension funds and individual savers earn on short-term lending to government. Lower yields cut the interest the state pays to borrow, while savers parking money in bills earn less. Demand above target, as The Publisher Online described, would help the government raise the cash it plans, but the figures come from a single report.