Government does not intend to make a second appearance on the international capital market this year because of the US$3billion loan signed with the China Development Bank, Fifi Kwetey, Deputy Finance Minister, has said.
The government, however, retains its interest in issuing a second Eurobond after 2012 to create a new benchmark and strengthen its presence on the market, he said.
�We�ve borrowed US$3billion from the China Development Bank, so we�re not expecting to go to the market this year; but in subsequent years, yes,� Fifi told investors at the Ghana Finance and Investment Conference in Accra.
Ghana�s debut Eurobond was sold in 2007 at a yield of 8.5 percent. The US$750million bond is due in 2017.
The 2012 fiscal budget announced that seven- and 10-year fixed-rate domestic bonds will be issued this year to finance infrastructure projects. The budget�s estimates showed capital spending will increase by 54.8 percent to GH�5.7billion in the year.
Fifi said fiscal consolidation is continuing, and the high deficits and macroeconomic imbalances the government inherited in 2009 have been reversed. �We�re looking at a budget deficit of 3.9 percent at the end of 2011, and this year, we expect to stay within the range of 4 percent,� he said.
The fiscal deficit shot up from 5.6 percent of (revised) GDP in 2007 to 8.5 percent in 2008, while the current account deficit increased from 8 to 10.8 percent of GDP in the same period. In 2009, the fiscal gap fell to 5.8 percent of GDP and rose to 6.8 percent in 2010.
Meanwhile, economic growth slowed from 8.4 percent in 2008 to 4 percent in 2009, then soared to 7.7 percent and 13.6 percent in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Oil production and the services sector will be the main drivers of the economy, the Deputy Minister, stated. GDP growth this year is forecast to record 9.4 percent. �We�re still making new (oil) discoveries, and in the next five to six years we�ll be producing about half a million barrels (of oil) a day.�
Jubilee Field output has yet to reach its peak of 120,000 barrels of oil per day, and its largest shareholder Tullow Oil said last year output was at around 85,000 barrels per day.
Tullow, together with the Jubilee partners, plans to invest about US$4billion in the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) discoveries in the offshore west of the country, the company told B&FT last December.
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