Government to raise ¢1.28bn in T-bills to refinance maturities worth ¢1.07bn

The government will raise ¢1.28 billion to refinance Treasury bill maturities worth ¢1.07 billion in the upcoming T-bill auction on Friday January 28, 2022.

This is coming after the government missed its treasury bills target by 20%, as a result of the uncertainty over the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) programme which has been resolved to some extent due to the agreement between the banks and the government.

The government will mobilise the funds from the issuance of the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills.

Last week, the government saw an under-subscription in the T-bill auction as investor demand dropped.

The Treasury accepted all the bills to the tune of ¢1.93 billion bids tendered.

With the bulk of the uptake (82%) in the 91-day bill, the weighted average yield on the tenor closed the auction 17 basis points higher to 35.63%.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, last week in an exclusive interview with Joy Business said it will be suicidal if Treasury bills is included in the debt exchange programme because it is currently the only source of borrowing for government.

“We can’t afford to touch it. Let me assure you, Treasury bills will forever remain sacrosanct. Treasury bills are exempted completely. We have done the sustainability analysis. We are not including treasury bills. That is how government funds its operations”, he reaffirmed.

Despite his pronouncement, the sale of the short term securities have been mixed in recent times.