The World Bank’s development arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has revealed plans to issue a 10-year bond to raise 2 billion cedis to support local businesses in Ghana.

According to the IFC, it has secured approval from the capital market regulator in the United States , the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to go ahead and prepare the local prospectus for the bond issuance.

Vice President and Treasurer of IFC, Jingdong Hua said the move is part of their plan to reduce the dependency on foreign aid by Ghana and to develop the local capital market. This was contained in correspondence with local press Joy FM in Accra.

According to the IFC the proceeds from the bond will be used to support Ghanaian businesses to expand their capacity.

The corporation is targeting institutional investors, especially pension fund managers to participate in the bond issue.

It is also expecting to list the bond on the Ghana Stock Exchange and trade publicly.

The private sector arm of the World Bank is also set to launch a Naira-denominated bond in Nigeria.