Public debt climbs to GHS 351.8bn, now 80.1% of GDP
Ghana’s public debt has crossed the dreaded 80 percent mark according to new data made available by the Central Bank.
In its Summary of Economic and Financial Data report for March 2022, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) pegged the country’s total public debt as a percentage to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 80.1% at end-December 2021.
In nominal terms, this translates into some GHS 351.8bn, an increase of GHS 10bn from the GHS 341.8bn (77.8% of GDP) total public debt recorded in September 2021.
On a year-on-year basis, the country’s debt marks an increase of GHS 60.2bn – from December 2020 to December 2021.
Accounting for the chunk of the country’s public debt was domestic debt which has now increased to GHS 181.8bn from the GHS 178.1bn recorded in September 2021.
On a year-on-year basis (Dec. 2020 – Dec. 2021), that represents an increase of GHS 32bn.
Domestic debt as a percentage of GDP as at end-December 2021, stood at 41.4%.
External debt under the review period also increased to GHS 170bn from GHS 163.7bn in September 2021.
On a year-on-year basis (Dec. 2020 – Dec. 2021), external debt grew from GHS 141.8bn to GHS 170bn.
As a percentage of GDP, external debt as at end-December 2021, stood at 38.7%.
The country’s public debt of 80.1% as now confirmed by the BoG, affirms earlier projections by economic analysts in the country and even the World Bank about Ghana’s public debt exceeding the 80% threshold and further threatening its debt sustainability programmes.
