Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam has urged the Office of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to promptly transfer the allocated GH¢181,837,022.00 to the beneficiaries of the DACF-Responsiveness Factor Grant (RFG) for the District Performance Assessment Tool (DPAT) VI.

He expressed concern that the ongoing delays in transferring the funds to the Metropolitan Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs) could undermine the government’s commitment to bilateral cooperation agreements and pose a significant risk to the Ministry’s objective of mobilising resources to support local development through decentralisation.

In a statement dated February 27, 2024, Mr Adam emphasised the importance of these potential grant funds as the country navigates an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme of fiscal consolidation and economic recovery.

Mr Adam clarified that the Ministry received a letter dated December 12, 2023, from the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), requesting the DACF Office to transfer GH¢181,837,022.00; GH¢170,142,722.00 to the Sub-consolidated accounts of the MMDAs and GH¢11,694,300 to the DPAT Secretariat for DPAT VI activities.

He expressed concern that these funds have not yet been received by the beneficiaries, hindering the progress and effective operations of the MMDAs.

Mr Adam stated that the prerequisite for Development Partners (DPs) committing funds to the DACF-RFG was the transfer of funds intended for the previous DPAT cycle (both GoG and DP contributions) to the MMDAs for their planned activities.

He noted that the ministry had received concerns from its development partners about the delayed transfer of funds to MMDAs, which threatens current and future DP support to the DACF-RFG.

For instance, the Finance Minister pointed out that the Swiss Government was hesitant to execute a new grant financing agreement of CHF22million, including CHF6million for DPAT VII activities in 2024, because the CHF4million disbursed in December 2022, along with the corresponding Government of Ghana (GoG) contribution for DPAT VI activities in 2023, had not been transferred to the MMDAs.

READ THE FULL STATEMENT FROM THE MoF HERE

Interest rates fell for 10 consecutive weeks, as demand for treasury bills continued to remain high despite the upside risks.

As predicted by many analysts, interest rates plummeted to reflect the lower inflation.

The yield on the 91-day bill fell by 25 basis points to 26.74%.

That of the 182-day also eased to 29.24% from 29.49% the previous week.

Similarly, the 364-day bill went down by 16 basis points to 29.84%.

Meanwhile, the government accepted all the bids tendered to the tune of GH¢4.83 billion. This is about 12% oversubscription.

For the 91-day bill, about GH¢2.72 billion were tendered, representing 56.3% of the total bids. The uptake was also GH¢2.72 billion.

For the 182-day bill, all the GH¢919.40 million of the bids were accepted.

The same applies to the 364-day bill in which all the GH¢1.18 billion were accepted.

Yields fell sharply in February 2024

Yields fell sharply in February 2024 as the strong money market liquidity outweighed any upside risk from the unexpected uptick in the January 2024 inflation.

The 91-day yield trimmed 131 basis points month-on-month to 27.3%.

The 182-day went down by 135 basis points to 29.8%, while the 364-day yield fell by 150 basis points to 30.3%.

Interest rates fell for the 9^th consecutive week running in line with analysts’ forecasts.

According to the auction results by the Bank of Ghana, the 91-day T-bill eased by 83 basis to 26.99%.

Similarly, the 182-day bill also went down to 29.49% from the previous 29.74%.

Again, the 364-day bill declined by 29 basis points to 30.0%.

Based on the happenings since the beginning of the year, the rates are expected to go down further this week.

Meanwhile, the government recorded about 19.9% percent oversubscription of the treasury bills auction, as demand for the short-term instruments remained high.

The total bids tendered by the investors were estimated at GH¢4.963 billion. The uptake was estimated at GH¢4.940 billion.

Chunk of the bids this time around came from the 6-month bill. The uptake was GH¢1.843 billion.

It was followed by the 91-day bill in which GH¢1.833 billion of the bids were tendered. All were accepted.

About GH¢1.263 billion of the bids came from the 364-day bill. Once more, all the bids were accepted.