Finance Minister Seth Terkper has confirmed that government is working to issue another Eurobond before the year ends.
The action has been influenced by government’s inability to raise all the US$1.5 billion approved by parliament earlier this year.
Government however managed to raise 1 billion dollars at an interest rate of 10.75 percent. This will translate into the state paying 108 million dollars every year.
Government is planning to use majority of the funds to pay for both local and US dollar bonds that are maturing.
But speaking at a news conference in Accra today, Mr. Terkper said the bond would be issued only if market conditions improve. Government might move in quickly to take advantage of that opportunity and raise the funds, he explained.
But even before government takes this action, ratings agency Moody has assigned a provisional B3 against the bond that government is looking at issuing. This means that the agency is putting high credit risk status on the bond or rating the planned bond as highly speculative.
If government manages to raise the bond, it would be the fifth time that the country has gone onto the international market to issue dollar-denominated bonds.
Joy Business had earlier this month reported that government was working to issue another Eurobond, after it managed to raise the 1 billion dollars this month.
