By: Franklin Asare-Donkoh
Latest data from the country’s central bank, the Bank of Ghana (BoG), shows that last week’s Treasury bill (T-bill) auction fell short of its target by 22.12%.
According to the BoG, the government aimed to raise GHS 8.58 billion but secured only GHS 6.69 billion. Out of GHS 5.02 billion in bids for the 91-day bill, GHS 4.99 billion was accepted.
The result ends a streak of three consecutive oversubscriptions and follows a sharp drop in the interest rate offered on the 56-day Bank of Ghana bill.
For the 182-day bill, GHS 1.23 billion was accepted from GHS 1.37 billion in bids, while the 364-day bill saw GHS 452 million accepted from a total of GHS 490 million in bids.
Financial analysts say the undersubscription reflects the government’s continued rejection of high-yield bids, alongside increased liquidity flows into the BoG’s Monday and Wednesday auctions, which mobilised about GHS 6.2 billion ahead of Friday’s sale.
Yields on short-term securities continued to edge down, ranging between 10% and 13%. The 91-day bill yield fell by 9 basis points to 10.20%, the 182-day bill by 10 basis points to 12.25%, and the 364-day bill by 14 basis points to 13.10%.
The government is targeting GHS 4.24 billion at the next auction.
