Business News of Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Source: thebftonline.com

Eurobond receives keen Asian interest

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta

Ghana plans to issue a sixth Eurobond of up to US$2billion by June and has received keen interest from Asian investors, Finance Minister Ken Ofoti-Atta said on Tuesday.

Ghanaian officials last week met investors in Singapore and Hong Kong to seek favourable terms for the bond, originally envisaged at US$1 billion in the 2018 budget.

Government is also considering a green bond sale, Ofori-Atta said, but did not give details.

Ghana’s 2018 Eurobond sale comes amid market uncertainty fuelled by the likelihood of a U.S. Federal Reserve hike that could render sub-Saharan African debt unattractive.

“We are going to issue anywhere from US$1 bln to $2 bln of our sovereign paper and we found some people who are excited about that,” Ofori-Atta said on local FM radio.

“We also are a lot more positive about issuing a green bond, and we got some keen interest for that,” he said. Previously, debt was sold mainly to investors in Europe and the United States.

Ghana, which exports cocoa, gold and oil, is in its final year of a US$918 million credit deal with the International Monetary Fund, under which it is aiming to reduce the budget deficit, inflation and public debt – which hit 68 percent of GDP last year.