Ghana may issue a 100-year $50 billion bond as part of the West African nation’s long-term industrialisation plan aimed at weaning the country off aid, its president said at a meeting with his Chinese counterpart.
The government, in power since January 2017, has said it needs about $2 billion a year for infrastructure spending. Ghana, which exports cocoa, gold and oil, is in its final year of a $918 million IMF credit programme.
President Nana Akufo-Addo said during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Sunday: “The Ministry of Finance and economists in Ghana are looking at floating a $50 billion century bond. This will provide us with the resources to finance our infrastructural and industrial development.”
Information minister-designate Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told Reuters on Monday that the government has yet to finalise details of the bond including the issuance period.
Akufo-Addo’s delegation also finalised a deal with Sinohydro Corp Ltd to provide $2 billion for government road and railway projects in exchange for refined Ghanaian bauxite, Nkrumah said.
The two countries also finalised a deal on building a $350-million liquefied natural gas terminal in Ghana’s eastern Tema port between China Harbour Engineering Company and Africa-focused private equity firm Helios investments.
