President John Mahama has hinted at a return to the external and domestic bond markets as part of his 8-Pillar plan to reset the economy. Speaking at the Ghana CEO Summit held today in Accra, the president said:

“Plans are in motion to reopen Ghana’s bond markets through collaboration the the IMF, the Ghana Stock Exchange, and local banks. Future borrowing, Mahama stressed, will be linked to self-financing projects by government agencies to ensure sustainable repayment.”

Ghana has been shut out of the international capital markets since 2022, leading it to seek an urgent $3 billion program from the IMF. Domestic bond issues have also been frozen after the government restructured over GHS 87 billion in bonds.

The Ghana cedi has appreciated by about 24% against the US dollar in 2025, on the back of significant forex inflows from gold and cocoa exports. Also, treasury bill rates have fallen from 28% to under 15% on the back of tight fiscal policy by the Ministry of Finance. These conditions have driven up demand for Ghana’s restructured bonds, with the prices of those bonds gaining by an average of 17% year-to-date.

The government could likely seize this opportunity to introduce long-dated cedi bonds to retire some of the maturing debt or pay off some arrears. Moreover, it could end the trend of relying solely on treasury bills for domestic financing which started in 2022. Even more significant would be a return to the Eurobond market which was shut to Ghana after 2021. A possible bond issue to refinance and push back eurobond maturities of about $4 billion between 2025-2028 could be on the table.

So far the finance minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, has been tight-lipped about the government’s capital market plan. However, he is likely to provide more information at the mid-year budget review in July/August where he will provide the government’s debt management strategy.