Treasury bills sale fall by 37%

Treasury bills sale target fell by about 37% despite the recent turnaround in the auctioning of the short term securities.

This is coming few days after ratings agency Fitch reviewed the country’s economic outlook from stable to negative though it maintained its ratings at ‘B’.

Government had targeted about ¢1.17 billion for the sale of the short term securities but was only able to raise a little above ¢735.58 million.

It is unclear whether the cut in the interest yield of the 91-day instrument which is highly patronized by investors, largely banks or the review of the Ghanaian economy from stable to negative by Fitch Ratings is the major contributor to the slump in the sale.

The recent fall in the Bank of Ghana’s Policy Rate to 13.50% was attributed to the investor interest in the T-Bills.

But it appears the investors are adopting a cautious approach in investing in the risk free instruments though lending to the private sector has also not seen any improvement.

According to the auctioning results by the Bank of Ghana, interest cost of the 91-day T-Bills went down by 0.03%, while that of the 6-months bill remain relatively same.

Source:Fiilafmonline/JoyBuss