Ghana Fixed Income Market hits 1 trillion milestone

The Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) has witnessed phenomenal growth over the past decade, with more than one trillion securities traded since its inception ten years ago, the Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Ms Abena Amoah, has disclosed.

She said from its humble beginnings in 2015, when GH¢5.2 billion securities were traded from August to December, the market had enjoyed a positive growth trajectory, peaking at 230 billion in volume traded in 2022.

Ms Amoah stated this at the media launch of the tenth anniversary of the GFIM in Accra on Wednesday, indicating that the GFIM had become an important avenue for the government and the private sector to raise both short- and long-term capital.

For instance, she said corporates had raised over GH¢24 billion in capital on the GFIM, ranging from a tenor as short as a 150-day Commercial Paper to as long as a 10-year Corporate Bond.

The anniversary is being held on the theme “10 Years of the Ghana Fixed Income Market – Deepening Markets, Expanding Possibilities.”

According to Ms Amoah, the GFIM suffered its first dip after seven years of sterling performance in 2023, following the implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

She noted that volume traded dropped steeply from 230 billion in 2022 to 98 billion in 2023, indicating that the GSE’s markets could serve as a good barometer for the health of the economy.

The Managing Director further indicated that 2024 saw a cautious rebound in the market, with volume traded reaching GH¢174 billion, a 76 per cent increase over 2023 as the country began to recover under the International Monetary Fund-supported programme.

She said the market recovery had continued into 2025, with cumulative volume traded from January to October crossing the 200 billion mark, putting the GFIM on track to return to pre-DDEP levels.

Ms Amoah added that the funding raised through the GFIM had contributed to growth in the real sectors of the economy, providing loans to households and SMEs, supporting cocoa farmers, and financing the production of fast-moving consumer goods.

Beyond its role in government financing, Ms Amoah said the GFIM had fostered investor growth and confidence through market transparency, regular market reports, and yield curve publications which had improved price discovery and discipline.

She said participation had also increased, with growth in the number of dealers, fund managers, pension funds, and retail investors accessing the market.

Ms Amoah said pension fund assets on the GFIM had grown to over GH¢90 billion, representing about 90 per cent of total assets under management.

She noted that Ghana’s bond market had gained regional and international recognition, being consistently highlighted in African bond market surveys as one of the most innovative and transparent, and becoming one of the most liquid in Sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa and Nigeria.

Ms Amoah said GFIM’s establishment in 2015 marked a turning point in Ghana’s capital markets. “It brought together key financial stakeholders—including the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Stock Exchange, and the Central Securities Depository—to create a transparent, rules-based platform for the issuance and trading of public fixed income securities,” she said.

Over the decade, the MD of GSE said the market’s growth had been underpinned by the introduction of electronic bond trading platforms, product diversification, and regulatory enhancements that boosted investor confidence.