Ghana plots 50-year bond after 30-year bond success.

Ghana says it wants to push the boundaries of sub-Saharan African debt markets by issuing a 50-year loan, fresh after the sale of an ultra-long debut bond to investors who are thirsty for returns.

Accra completed a $ 3 billion bond sale on Tuesday with an order book of more than $ 21 billion. The government had expected to sell the longest tranche, a 31-year loan, at an annual return of at least 9.5 percent. However, the demand for the debt was so strong that the final coupon was reduced to 8.95 percent.

“We thought we would get quite a lot of orders, but seven times a transfer is very massive,” said Charles Adu Boahen, Ghana’s Deputy Finance Minister, to the Financial Times.

& # 39; The world’s second largest producer of cocoa now strives to become the first African nation to provide a 50-year loan. “I think a 50-year loan is very possible, but the question is what price,” Adu Boahen said. “This is a market sounding exercise and there is encouraging appetite.”

The sale takes place at a time when the returns offered in developed markets are close to historical lows, undermined by bearish talk from central banks, including the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. Ghana’s success came despite the volatile currency of the country, the cedi, which fell 17 percent against the US dollar this year, a fall that accelerated after the Bank of Ghana lowered interest rates at the end of January.

Benin, another so-called “frontier” market, benefited this week from investor demand for high-yielding debts. With an order book of € 1.25 billion, Benin sold € 500 million of 6-year debt against a yield of 6.375 percent. Benin became the first issuer of the continent to offer his inaugural debt in euros, according to Romuald Wadagni, finance minister, being one of the eight African countries whose currency is pegged to the euro.

“We expected that we would reach € 500 million, but the result is far beyond our expectations,” he told the FT. “This is an opportunity to show the world good things that are happening in our country.”

Ghana has more than $ 16 billion in outstanding government debt and is now home to Africa’s longest-running bond. South Africa issued the region’s first 30-year debt in 2017.