For the first time in 15 weeks, government missed the target of its Treasury bill sale by almost 10%, despite surging interest rates.

This follows the downgrade of the country’s credit rating into deeper junk status by rating agency, Fitch.

The sale of the Treasury bills took place the same day Fitch announced the downgrade of the country’s creditworthiness despite surging interest rates.

The failure to meet its target should send a signal to the government to tighten its fiscal policy to prevent further stress on the economy.

The yield on the 91-day T-Bill finally reached 30%, from 29.90% the previous week.

The 182-day bill which is already trading above 31% inched up marginally to 31.34%.

Meanwhile, government secured ¢1.19 billion from the sale of the short-term securities, almost 10% lower than its target of ¢1.33 billion cedis.

It’s unclear whether the investors, largely banks, will remain cautious in investing in government securities.

However, this challenge should compel government to move fast over the negotiation with the International Monetary Fund for an economic programme to avert any liquidity constraint.  

Securities	Bids Tendered (GH¢)	Bids Accepted (GH¢)
91 Day Bill	948.14 million	948.02 million
182 Day Bill	244.28 million	244.28 million
Total	1.192 billion	1.192 billion
Target	1.331 billion