GH�300m Five-year Bond To Fund Construction Projects

Proceeds from the government�s GH�300 million ((US$197.4 million) five-year bond to be issued this month will be used to finance construction of four major on-going road projects in the country, said the Bank of Ghana. Though the location of the road projects was not mentioned in a statement issued by the Bank of Ghana, B&FT has learnt that the roads are located in Accra and Kumasi. The statement added the purpose of the bond-issue is also to provide a five-year Government benchmark investment and yield guide for the market. �The five-year bond will be open to both resident and non-resident investors. Each bond shall have a face value of one Ghana cedi with a minimum bid of GH�500,000 and GH�10,000 thereafter,� the statement said. The bond will be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) for secondary market trading, both on the floor of the exchange and over the counter (OTV). The statement noted that the register will be maintained on a book-entry system at the Central Securities Depository Ghana Limited, and therefore no certificates will be issued. Ghana last sold a five-year bond in June 2007 at a yield of 15 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. An issue that will mature in December yields 14.47 percent and another bond due in December 2012 will yield 13.67 percent. The country�s inflation slowed for the third consecutive month, to 8.9 percent in May from 9 percent in April. The domestic currency, the cedi, strengthened 3.9 percent against the dollar after it depreciated to its weakest since at least February 1994, according Bloomberg data. �An environment of volatile exchange rates is what puts investors off,� Emmanuel Nambware, a bond trader at Standard Chartered Plc (STAN)�s Ghanaian unit, told Bloomberg. He projected five-year borrowing costs at 13.5 percent. Ghana became Africa�s latest oil-producer last year; it is a major gold miner and the world�s second-biggest cocoa grower after neighbouring Ivory Coast.