Ghana says will not tap international capital markets again this year

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana does not plan to issue any more sovereign bonds in 2021, the finance ministry said on Friday, citing a successful financing round earlier this year as well as its substantial reserves.

Ghana issued bonds that raised $3.025 billion in March, the ministry said. The country also received about $1 billion from the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) in August to help with its post-COVID-19 recovery.

The finance ministry said in March that it planned to tap capital markets for up to $5 billion in budget support in 2021.

"Given the current market conditions, strong reserves position, the recent US$ 1.007 billion SDR allocation and the relatively stable currency, the Government of Ghana does not intend to access the international capital markets again this year," the ministry said in a statement.

The gold- and cocoa-producing nation was hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak, which curbed economic growth and widened its deficit. The economy grew 3.9% in the second quarter of 2021, according to the statistics office.

(Reporting by Christian Akorlie; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Hugh Lawson)