[ 2016-08-22 ]

Economic rebound will attract ‘good’ interest for Eurobond – Terkper
The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper says he is
hopeful Ghana will attract the best interest rate
for the country’s 2016 Eurobond.

According to him, recent developments in inflation
and the coming on board of the Tweneboah Enyenera
Ntomme (TEN) oil fields will prompt investors to
offer interest rates corresponding to the market
conditions.

Seth Terkper’s comments come barely a week after
he reiterated the ministry’s position that it
has not abandoned its decision on the 2016
Eurobond.

“We have been borne out unless for some major
events, at the time we started the road show, our
2023 bond which we issued at 2013, was priced at
10.5 interest rate but today it is at 9.4
percent,

“This means that the news about the first
quarter inflation performance of this year, the
growth figures and the fact that TEN is no longer
a prospect story, are all beginning to show that
there is something for real and we hope that these
would help the process and at the appropriate
time, we can go in with the investors and
price,” he told journalists in Accra.

Government, early this month, suspended its
planned 2016 Eurobond issue to raise 750 million
dollars.

Proceeds of the bond were to be used to retire the
country’s first Eurobond which matures next
year.

A statement issued by the Finance Ministry on the
move at the time attributed the decision to the
unfavourable interest rates being offered by
investors.

Though it is unclear how much the investors were
offering for Ghana’s bonds, Seth Terkper
explained that government made the right decision
in suspending the issue.

While admitting that the plan was a slight shift
from previous practices, Mr. Terkper justified the
move and was confident of a positive outcome this
time round.

“Last year, we did not price immediately after
the road show even though we did so in our first
three bonds. But it does not necessarily follow
that you must not exercise the option not to price
immediately,”

“We decided to go this way because we were
informing the markets on various things from the
IMF program to the TEN fields. We felt that
following these narratives and what we have done
with our sinking funds proceeds,” he added.

The Finance Minister concluded that the recent
developments imply fewer risks to the Ghanaian
economy which will restore confidence among
investors.

“The markets were not taking it or had not
evaluated it because some of the information were
being put out there for the very first time so we
decided to allow investors to analyze the
facts,” he stated.

Source - citibsinessnews.com

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