T-bills: government interest cost for last 3 months hits ¢4.416bn

Interest cost on Government of Ghana Treasury bills for the last three months (December 2022, January 2023 and February 2023) is estimated at ¢4.416 billion.

The government bought a total of ¢33.08 billion worth of T-bills in the last three months.

The treasury instruments were sold by government at an average yield of 35%.

In December 2022, the government secured ¢12.60 billion at an interest rate of 35.72%.

Interestingly, the government in January 2023 reduced its appetite for the short-term securities, mobilising ¢7.3 billion at a rate of 35.66%.

However, the government borrowing from T-bills signi cantly shot up to ¢13.1 billion in February 2023 at an interest cost of 35.50%.

Executive Director of nance rm, Dalex, Joe Jackson in a tweet said “should you be cautious in buying T-bills?”

“Government of Ghana bought 33.08 billion in the last three months. The weighted average interest rate was 35.62% and will cost a whopping ¢4.42 billion”.

The government only source of borrowing for now is the treasury market, hence the signi cant borrowing on the short-term market.

The government will this week borrow ¢2.78 billion from Treasury bills to re nance maturing bills worth ¢2.55 billion.