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\n<\/div>\nThe Finance Minister says the decision to raise a $50 billion century bond is not off the table and that the government is going to work with the market to see whether they are interested in a longer tenure bond.<\/p>\n
Ken Ofori-Atta\u00a0said government may even opt for a 50-year bond, \u201cif that is what the market calls for.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He said, \u201cI don\u2019t think anything is off the table for good, because really issue is the market has told us that they are comfortable with 31\u2019s and we have a long term restructuring things that we have to do in terms of infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking on\u00a0Bloomberg Television, Mr Ofori-Atta added, \u201cSo we have to work with the market to see whether they are interested in a longer tenure bond for us to do that but it will not be a unilateral decision, it will be a decision that makes sense for the market and we don\u2019t need to call it century bond may be a fifty year something if that is what the market calls for.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Ofori-Atta said that he did not expect to come back to the market in 2019 and that a 2020 bond sale would have to be timed to take into account a general election scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n
President Akufo-Addo said in September that Ghana could issue a 100-year $50 billion bond as part of a long-term industrialisation plan, although analysts expressed doubt that Ghana had the capacity to undertake such a transaction.<\/p>\n
On the back of that statement, Mr Ofori-Atta told Parliament during the 2019 budget that, \u201cThe decision to raise these ultra-long-term bonds is not intended to derail our debts sustainability path, but rather to enhance it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we really want to uplift ourselves out of this hand-to-mouth existence and put our country Ghana on a firm trajectory of growth and prosperity, we will need to source long term affordable financing to invest in strategic infrastructure over the medium to long-term.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Sovereign Century Fund shall engage on a bilateral basis to raise long term concessional financing to underwrite our other commercial infrastructure needs through GIIF, GIADEC, PPP projects and other entities as well as liability management,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
Exiting the IMF programme<\/b><\/p>\n
On exiting the IMF programme, Mr Ofori-Atta said \u201cI think we really have proven over this period, the clarity of our President Akufo-Addo\u2019s vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid. So the principle of going alone of being sovereign independent is very clear.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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He added, \u201cHowever, we\u2019ve had great relation these two years with the Fund and we moved back to Article 4 \u2013 a 12 months review in which they come in every six months, we\u2019ve also established an economic policy coordinating committee in which they will sit in.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the sense of the IMF as a trusted Advisor is something that we will go on with, only that, there is no money at the end of the table but the rigour of review etc will continue and I think it is a healthy relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n