Close Menu
MyGhanaDaily
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    MyGhanaDaily
    Tuesday, October 7
    Trending
    • Naglogu Care Foundation Holds Cerebral Palsy Sensitization Walk in Tamale
    • Dead body found in classroom at Galilea M/A 1 JHS
    • EC to conduct by-elections nationwide for vacant Electoral areas and Units
    • Speaker of Parliament postpones resumption of parliament
    • African Union Soil Observatory Project Officially Launched
    • Hannah Awadzi of GNA awarded the Most Outstanding Female journalist for 2025
    • NIA to issue Ghana Cards to children aged 6–14 from October 6
    Your Marketplace Banner
    • News
    • Business
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Fashion
      • Celebrity news
    • Sports
    • Health
    • Technology
    • Agriculture
    • Opportunites
    • Videos
    • More
      • Education
      • Tourism
      • History
      • Feature
      • Opinion
      • World
    MyGhanaDaily
    Home»News»Ghana contemplates Africa’s first social bonds with $2 billion sale
    News

    Ghana contemplates Africa’s first social bonds with $2 billion sale

    Ellen NusiBy Ellen NusiJuly 6, 2021Updated:July 6, 2021No Comments3 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    ken ofori

    Ghana plans to issue up to $2 billion in green and social bonds by November, making it the first African country to sell debt to fund development programs, according to Bloomberg.

    The West African economy, which is planning to borrow up to $5 billion on international markets this year, would use the proceeds from these sustainable bonds to refinance debt used for social and environmental projects and pay for educational or health, Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said in an interview in the capital, Accra.

    Send your stories to Email: myghanadaily@gmail.com • WhatsApp: +233 577 145 140

    “The expectation is that the bonds will be issued in the fall and the maximum can be $2 billion,” after Ghana already sold $3.03 billion in March out of the $5 billion for which it has budget approval, Ofori-Atta said. Out of the total, $3.5 billion will be used to refinance debt already raised. “Our actual new debt will be $1.5 billion,” he said.

    Ghana would be pioneering social bonds in Africa, seizing on an instrument that’s boomed since the coronavirus pandemic. Still, only a few sovereigns have sold them so far, including Chile and Ecuador. The country will use the proceeds to forge ahead with a free secondary-school initiative started in 2017 among other programs, despite having recorded its lowest economic growth rate in 37 years in 2020.

    Sustainable bonds “are not cheap, there is no discount,” Ofori-Atta said. “We will seek to negotiate for the best terms though.”

    Africa’s top gold producer, which is targeting a budget gap of 9.5% of gross domestic product this year, from a 11.7% shortfall in 2020, expects its output to expand 5% from 0.4% last year.

    It’s also working to improve tax revenue collection, which has historically been low compared to regional peers. This comes after President Nana Akufo-Addo said the tax base was set to grow more than fivefold to 15.5 million after the government’s April 1 implementation of a system where all national identification numbers serve as tax numbers.

    “We really want to be able to double our tax revenue to about 28% of GDP using digitalization, so we can create a much more vibrant economy in the next three years,” said Ofori-Atta.

    Vaccine Shortage

    Plans to revive the economy and deepen the state purse remain vulnerable to a new wave of the pandemic, he said.

    Ghana’s ambition of reaching herd immunity by vaccinating 20 million people against Covid-19 has become a challenge, mainly due to vaccine nationalization, Ofori-Atta said. “The Western world may have about 68 doses per 100 people while Ghana has 2 doses per 100 and that cannot continue.”

    Ghana has failed to secure vaccines beyond the 1.3 million free shots it’s received mainly from the World Health Organization-backed Covax Initiative, with smaller donations coming from the Indian government and Africa’s biggest mobile operator, MTN Group Ltd.

    If the vaccines were readily available, the country would still need as much as $300 million to buy what it needs, according to Ofori-Atta.

    “That has become our Achilles’ heel going forward,” he said.

    source: citibusinessnews

    Send your news stories to
    Email: myghanadaily@gmail.com • WhatsApp: +233 577 145 140
    Advertise with us | Follow our WhatsApp channel for more news
    finance General News
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleAkufo-Addo to engage journalists on Thursday
    Next Article Ejura violence: Ashanti Regional Minister explains deployment of military personnel
    Ellen Nusi

    Related Posts

    Naglogu Care Foundation Holds Cerebral Palsy Sensitization Walk in Tamale

    October 7, 2025

    Dead body found in classroom at Galilea M/A 1 JHS

    October 7, 2025

    October 7, 2025
    LATEST NEWS
    • Naglogu Care Foundation Holds Cerebral Palsy Sensitization Walk in Tamale
    • Dead body found in classroom at Galilea M/A 1 JHS
    • (no title)
    • EC to conduct by-elections nationwide for vacant Electoral areas and Units
    • Speaker of Parliament postpones resumption of parliament
    SPORTS NEWS

    2026 FIFA WCQ: Ghana beats Mali

    September 9, 2025

    The Black Stars Podcast: A six-part dive into Ghana’s football history, struggles and sparks of glory

    August 30, 2025

    2026 World Cup qualifiers: Black Stars set to open camp on September 1

    August 27, 2025

    Felix Afena-Gyan Joins Amedspor on Season-Long Loan

    August 21, 2025

    Ayew Stays Positive as Foxes Target Quick Response

    August 21, 2025
    Recent Posts
    • Naglogu Care Foundation Holds Cerebral Palsy Sensitization Walk in Tamale
    • Dead body found in classroom at Galilea M/A 1 JHS
    • (no title)
    • EC to conduct by-elections nationwide for vacant Electoral areas and Units
    • Speaker of Parliament postpones resumption of parliament
    Like Us On Facebook
    Facebook Pagelike Widget
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    © 2019 -2025 Copyright | MyGhanaDaily.com

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.