Ghana’s Ministry of Finance has issued a formal circular setting out the operational terms for its return to the domestic bond market, requiring investors to submit minimum bids of GH¢50,000 and participate exclusively through six designated Bond Market Specialists.
The Domestic Bond Programme Circular, dated March 26, 2026, provides the first detailed procedural framework for bond issuances since the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) restrictions were lifted on March 2. NewsGhana reported on the policy decision at the time. The circular now specifies how transactions will actually work.
Six financial institutions have been appointed as Bond Market Specialists to manage issuances: Absa Bank Ghana, CalBank, Fincap Securities, GCB Bank, One Africa Securities and Stanbic Bank Ghana. Prospective investors, described in the circular as “sophisticated investors with sufficient knowledge and experience in evaluating credit and market risk,” may not participate in auctions directly and must route all bids through one of these six firms.
Bonds will be denominated in Ghana cedis, with interest paid semi-annually and principal returned in full at maturity. Auction bids will be accepted on a yield or price basis as applicable, with all successful offers clearing at a single level for new issuances and at the accepted price for re-taps. In the event of oversubscription, the Ministry reserves the right to apply discretionary allocation.
Settlement will be processed through the Central Securities Depository (CSD) in dematerialised book-entry form. No physical bond certificates will be issued. Following settlement, the bonds will be eligible for secondary market trading on the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a provision designed to offer investors an exit route and support price discovery.
The circular identifies four objectives underpinning the issuance programme: re-establishing a domestic funding programme, supporting liquidity management and refinancing of maturing obligations, rebuilding a sovereign yield curve, and restoring market confidence. The government plans to raise GH¢10 billion in infrastructure bonds in 2026 under its “Big Push” initiative, structured as two GH¢5 billion tranches in the second and fourth quarters, in 10-year and 15-year instruments.
The Ministry committed to communicating further issuance details officially through its own channels and through the appointed Bond Market Specialists.
Treasury bill rates have fallen from over 35 percent in early 2023 to around 10.7 percent in early 2026, and inflation has declined from a 2022 high of 54 percent to 3.3 percent by February 2026, providing the macroeconomic backdrop the government says justifies the return to longer-term issuance. The 2027 and 2028 debt maturities, which analysts have flagged as a significant refinancing challenge, are cited by the Ministry as part of the rationale for rebuilding the yield curve and diversifying the maturity structure now.
