Ghana to start corporate bond market

Ghana is making a fresh bid to develop a corporate bond market, reports the Reuters news agency March 1, 2012 citing an adviser to a new government bond development panel.

The panel aims to achieve five listings in the next three years.

Mr. Sam Mensah, a technical adviser to the panel, told Reuters that the National Bond Market Committee will work with state-owned enterprises and the private sector to encourage them to issue bonds.

Mr Mensah, according to the report, said plans for corporate bonds drawn up a decade ago had not been fully implemented but the new panel would “go beyond writing reports.”

If all is set, companies in both the energy and ports sectors are said to be the ones likely to issue the bonds due to their huge borrowing needs.

By Ekow Quandzie