T-bills auction: Government gets ¢6.15bn at 24% interest

The government beat the cost of its Treasury bills down significantly, securing ¢6.15 billion from the latest auction, about 121.6% oversubscription.

It however accepted ¢4.52 billion of the bids from the investors, largely banks.

According to results from the Bank of Ghana, the government reduced the pricing of the short term instruments from 35% to a yield of 24.16% for the 91-day T-bills.

However, that of the 182-day and 364-day bills were sold at 26.55% and 27.54% respectively.

The results further indicate that the 91-day T-bill received bids worth ¢2.73 billion. However, the government accepted ¢1.16 billion.

For the 182-day bills, the bids tendered were estimated at ¢1.526 billion. ¢1.16 billon was however accepted by the government.

The bids tendered for the 364-day bill was also valued at ¢1.886 billion. Government, however, accepted ¢1.882 billion.

The government on Friday, March 3, 2023, rejected all the bids for the short term securities, after raising concerns about the increasing debt service burden at the current rates. The rates were hovering around 35%.

It therefore reopened the tender for the auction yesterday March 7, 2023.

Importantly, the interest costs for the instruments have gone down significantly. This will consequently help reduce the total interest servicing of the short term securities going forward.