Copyright ghanamma
Ghana’s fixed income market recorded total trading volume of 235.15 million cedis across 317 transactions on Thursday, November 6, 2025, with treasury bills maintaining their dominant position in investor preferences. Treasury bills accounted for 177 million cedis through 283 transactions, representing 75.3 percent of total trading volume as investors continued their strong appetite for short term government securities. The most actively traded instrument was a treasury bill maturing January 26, 2026, which recorded 62.12 million cedis in volume across 18 transactions at a closing price of 97.7002. New Government of Ghana (GOG) notes and bonds contributed 41.03 million cedis through 10 transactions. The largest single trade involved a GOG bond maturing February 12, 2030, carrying an 8.80 percent coupon, which saw 34.79 million cedis change hands in one transaction. This bond traded at a yield of 15.39 percent and closed at 79.8410. Old GOG notes and bonds recorded modest activity with 64,800 cedis traded across three transactions. The most significant old bond trade involved a security maturing August 9, 2027, with a 20 percent coupon. This legacy instrument traded 44,800 cedis in a single transaction at a yield of 24.01 percent and closed at 94.3737, reflecting the premium pricing on higher coupon securities issued during previous high interest rate periods. Sell and buyback trades, also known as repo transactions, involving GOG notes and bonds totaled 17.05 million cedis across 21 transactions. The largest repo activity centered on a GOG bond maturing February 11, 2031, with an 8.95 percent coupon. This security recorded 9.99 million cedis across 12 transactions, trading at a yield of 12.92 percent and closing at 85.0831. Corporate bonds and Bank of Ghana (BOG) bills recorded zero activity during Thursday’s session, highlighting continued investor concentration in government securities. The absence of corporate bond trading reflects persistent liquidity challenges in Ghana’s private sector debt market, where secondary trading remains thin despite multiple issuers listed on the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) platform. The treasury bill market’s dominance reflects institutional preferences for liquidity and flexibility in the current economic environment. Banks, which represent the largest participants in Ghana’s fixed income market, typically favor matching short term deposit liabilities with short term assets like treasury bills rather than committing to longer duration exposures. Thursday’s trading patterns align with broader trends visible throughout 2025, where market participants have consistently favored government securities over corporate debt and shorter maturities over longer dated instruments. This preference persists despite Ghana’s improving macroeconomic fundamentals, including inflation that declined to its lowest level in four years. The bond yield environment on Thursday continued reflecting elevated rate structures. The 15.39 percent yield on the decade long bond and the 24.01 percent yield on the older security indicate significant risk premiums that investors demand for holding longer dated Ghanaian government debt. The GFIM operates on Bloomberg’s electronic bond trading and surveillance system, providing technical infrastructure for transparent price discovery and efficient execution. The platform facilitates secondary trading of all fixed income securities, though government instruments continue to dominate actual transaction volumes. Market observers note that the concentration in treasury bills reflects both strong banking sector liquidity and investor caution about committing capital for extended periods. While short term rates have compressed significantly from crisis levels in 2023, longer dated yields remain elevated as investors weigh Ghana’s medium term fiscal trajectory. The fixed income market plays a crucial role in Ghana’s financial system, providing government financing for budget operations and offering investors alternatives to equity markets. Thursday’s solid trading volumes across government securities suggest sustained confidence in Ghana’s debt markets, though the continued absence of corporate bond activity highlights ongoing challenges in developing deeper capital markets.
