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Ghana halts Eurobond sale as investors fret over gov't fiscal targets

The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper and a group of experts from the Bank of Ghana are on a roadshow to meet investors across Europe in order to whip up interest in, what would be,  Ghana’s fifth Eurobond attempt in four years.

Seth Terkper, Finance Minister

The government will monitor markets and revive the sale “at the optimal time and the right conditions,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Thursday after concluding investor meetings in the U.K. and U.S. It also capped a buyback tender for $500 million of 2017 notes at $100 million, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The "Government will continue to build on this dialogue with international investors, while monitoring the markets and the IMF Board process with respect to the Third Review of the Program and will issue new notes at the optimal time and the right conditions,"the statement added.

International Ratings Agency Fitch gave Ghana a B credit rating ahead of the next Eurobond issue slated for September 2016.

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An emerging-markets economist at Standard Life Investments Ltd. in London,Nicolas Jaquier, told Bloomberg "the timing of the new issue was a bit puzzling, coming to issue a bond just before some of the pending issues with the IMF were being ironed out. That’s what kept many investors away.”

The government had to ditch its last Eurobond issue of $750 million in February 2016, describing it as ill-timed.

However, Jacquier said investors staying way is not "an entire surprise."

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