Businesses criticise govt’s GH¢25bn 6-month bond issue

Business News of Saturday, 31 January 2015

Source: myjoyonline.com

Seth Terkper Dr Kofi Wampah

Governments’ decision to borrow a little over GH¢25billion through the issuance of bonds for the first half of this year has not gone down well with a lot businesses.

The businesses say the move by govt will lead to the crowding out of enterprises when it comes to access to capital.

Some economist are also worried that the issuance of bonds and treasury bills which is amounting to a little over GH¢25billion, will affect efforts to reduce the budget overruns and the public debts which is currently hitting.

However, persons at the Finance Ministry and Bank of Ghana working on these bonds, about GH¢21billion will be used to finance bonds and treasury bills that will be maturing this year, while the remaining four billion Ghana cedis will be used to finance products outlined in the 2015 budget.

According to sources close to BoG and Finance Ministry the bonds issue will help bring down the budget deficit and also reduce Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio — which has hit levels many have described as unsustainable.