T-bills auction: Interest rates surge for 34th week running; Government achieves 35% oversubscription

Interest rates surged for the 34^th week running according to the latest auction of Treasury bills by the Bank of Ghana.

The higher interest rates also triggered a higher demand for short-term financial instruments, enabling the government to achieve a 35.16% oversubscription of the T-bills sale.

However, it raises concerns about the rising cost of domestic debt at the shorter end of the market.

According to the T-bills auction, the 91-day bill reached 29.73%, as against 29.19% a week ago.

Similarly, the 182-day bill shot up by 180 basis points to 31.60%.

That of the 364-day bill also went up to 33.34% from 33.21% the previous week.

Meanwhile, the government exceeded its target by a little over 35% to the tune of ¢3.08 billion. It however accepted ¢2.89 billion of the bids tendered.

The majority of the bids came from the 91-day bill.

About ¢2.44 billion were tendered in which ¢2.43 billion were accepted.

For the 182-day bill, ¢402.4 million of the bids were tendered, but the government accepted ¢391.20 million.

With regard to the 364-day bill, ¢235.11 million of the bids were received. The government however accepted ¢68.99 million because of the cost of borrowing.