Eurobond issue pushes Ghana’s foreign debt to $10.2b – BoG

The recent $1 billion Eurobond issued by the Ghana government has increased the country’s external debt portfolio, officials have said.

Ghana’s external debt in the first seven months of 2013 currently stands at $10.2 billion.

The external debt as at the end of December 2012 was $8.8 billion, the Bank of Ghana said September 18, 2013 in a monetary policy committee (MPC) press statement.

“The increase in the external debt was mainly due to the sovereign bond issue,” Dr Kofi Wampah, Governor of the Central Bank said.

Ghana issued its second Eurobond worth $1 billion in July 2013 and received $750 million as proceeds. The bond had a coupon rate of 7.875%.

Meanwhile, the country is planning to launch another bond totalling about $1 billion or more on the international market next year, Reuters reported September 19, 2013 citing a Ghanaian official.

“We are not going in (to international capital markets) again from now until December, we will go in definitely next year,” Reuters quoted Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, a Deputy Minister at Ghana’s Finance Ministry as saying in London.

“We will do $1 billion or maybe more,” Mr Forson was further quoted.

Currently, Ghana’s total stock of public debt has increased to GH¢43.9 billion which is 49.5% of GDP at end of August 2013, from GH¢35.1 billion in December 2012, says the central bank.

The domestic component of the debt amounts to GH¢24 billion while external is $10.2 billion.

By Ekow Quandzie