Government failed to raise the 6 billion cedis for the energy bond it issued last week.
Government was able to raise 3.4 billion cedis as at Friday, October 27, 2017.
As a result, the managers of the bond have announced an extension of the auction for the 10 year bond by one more week.
The 3.4 billion cedis so far raised, represents about 57 percent of the 6 billion cedis needed.
But it is worth noting that more than seventy percent or 2.5 billion cedis of the amount was realized from the 7 year bond issued.
The 10 year bond, attracted 902 million cedis far less than the 3.6 billion cedis target.
Like earlier prediction by Economist, Dr. Lord Mensah, Citi Business News understands government will be paying 19 percent interest on the 2.4 billion cedis.
For Economist, Dr. Eric Osei Assibey, the rate may just be realistic.
“The fact that this bond didn’t have any kind of Sovereign guarantee, there’s some amount of risk that investors associate with this kind of bond. Therefore I think 19 percent is quite fair and because it is also a long term bond and there is so much uncertainty around it, you would expect that investors will definitely go in for a higher cost,” he stated.
Meanwhile managers of the bond have extended auctioning for the 10 year bond for seven more days.
The auction is now expected to close on Friday, November 3rd, 2017.
It is unclear what prompted this move this time around.
But it appears that investors requested for an extension due to the nature of not being a Sovereign bond.
Dr. Osei Assibey also shares his expectation after the close of bids on Friday, November 3rd.
“It could just be around the figure expected so let’s give some plus or minus to that…the confidence level over the last couple of months have increased by the fact that the micro economic indicators are on track and also having the IMF coming in to back the government’s policies and others.”
Analysts are however optimistic that the eventual completion of the process should turn around the fortunes of the various State Owned Enterprises whose operations have been affected by the accumulated debts.
–
By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
