Treasury Rates [October 23, 2023]

Security	Interest Rates
91 – Day Bill	29.7305%
182 – Day Bill	31.6014%
364 – Day Bill	33.3410%

Treasury bills rates ticked higher this week from last week’s levels buoyed by concerns of looming upward price pressures on consumer goods and services as the local currency begins to undergo some persistent marginal declines ahead of the festive season. This new development is likely to shorten the recently observed disinflationary path and further give support for the upward rise in Treasury yields. Already the central bank has signaled that it stands ready to resume its policy tightening cycle in the event of the emergence of fresh inflationary pressures.

The 91-day bill rose for its thirty-first consecutive time this week, coming in with a jump of 25 basis points (bps) to add to last week’s 29 bps increase. It cleared at 29.7305% this week from 29.4828% last week.

The yield on the 182-day bill rose by a lesser margin at 18 bps compared to last week’s 21 bps increase. It moved up from 31.4259% posted last week to clear at 31.6014% this week.

The 364-day bill similarly went up by a lesser margin this week with a 13 bps increase compared to last week’s 20 bps increase. It hardened to 33.3410% this week from 33.2142% posted last week.

Week-on-Week Changes

Tenor	Previous	Current	w-o-w Change	w-o-w % Change	Year-to-Date
91 – Day	29.4828%	29.7305%	0.25	0.84%	-15.93%
182 – Day	31.4259%	31.6014%	0.18	0.56%	-12.17%
364 – Day	33.2142%	33.3410%	0.13	0.38%	-7.11%

Auction results of tender 1873 revealed that investors gave much credence to expectations of higher inflation numbers compared to concerns of increasing public debt as the government’s interest burden steadily rises. Bids accordingly came in excess of 35.0% of the government’s target amount.

A total of GHS 3,084.41 million worth of bids were tendered for the 91, 182, and 364 tenors against the government’s target amount of GHS 2,282.00 million. The government accepted 99.57%, 97.20%, and 29.34% of the GHS 2,446.82 million, GHS 402.48 million, and GHS 235.11 million worth of bids tendered for the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day bills respectively.

In the week ahead, we expect the government to return to the domestic market in an attempt to mobilize GHS 2,238.00 million from 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day bills to meet GHS 2.08 billion worth of maturing papers due next week.