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Ghana will issue a three-year bond to raise 500 million cedis ($131 million) today to restructure debt and fund government projects, the central bank said on Tuesday.

Proceeds from the bond, which is open to offshore investors, will be used to settle maturing papers, the bank said in a statement.

The statement said the bond shall bear a coupon rate equal to the highest competitive bid accepted at the auction for the security.

Each bond according to the statement shall have a face value of one Ghana cedi and minimum of GH¢50,000 and multiples of GH¢1,000 thereafter.

It said the amount of interest paid on every coupon payment date shall be equal to the principal amount at the coupon rate for half-year.

The statement said all payments in respect of the bonds by or on behalf of the issuer shall be subject to withholding or deduction for, or on account of taxes.

On application methods the statement said bids may be made on either a competitive or noncompetitive basis through primary dealers only.

“Primary dealers may also submit bids on their own behalf. Bids received will not be revocable. Participation: The three-year fixed rate bond shall be available to both resident and non-resident investors,” it said.

The statement said bids must be electronically delivered to the Central Securities Depository Auction Module not later than 1.30 pm today.

The Bank of Ghana is quoted by the statement as saying that it reserved the right to reject any or part of any competitive or non-competitive bid.

Subject to this, it said, competitive bids would be ranked in ascending order of the annual rate of interest bid.

The statement said securities would be sold to applicants whose competitive bids were at or below the highest rate at which the Bank of Ghana decides that any competitive bid would be accepted (the “uniform allocation rate”).

“Applicants whose competitive bids are accepted will purchase securities at par with the coupon fixed at the uniform allocation rate. Competitive bids which are accepted and which are made at rates below the uniform allocation rate will be satisfied in full,” it said.