Every Ghanaian owes GHC 5000 – Economist

An economist with Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Dr. Charles Ackah says the current state of Ghana's public debt means that every Ghanaian, including new born babies, automatically owes a whopping GHC 5,000.

According to the economist, Ghana’s debt in 2017 rose to GHC 138 billion which represents 68.2% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), suggesting that every citizen owes Ghana’s creditors GHC 5,000.

“I’m not saying debt is bad but it needs to be sustainable and we need to reduce borrowing. The total debt stock as it stands now is 330% of total revenue which is not enough to pay our debt” he said.

Dr. Ackah, however, commended the government for achieving an increase in the GDP growth of 7.9% as compared to a 3.7% last year.

“It is interesting to note that the estimated growth for 2017 after one year of the Akufo-Addo government is 7.9% from the 3.7% and that is commendable,” he noted.

“It seems as if that performance was largely driven by a surprising performance by the oil sector, which does not create employment opportunities as the manufacturing and agricultural sector,” he added.

Dr. Ackah was speaking at a one-day public discussion on Nana-Addo’s one year in government organized by CDD-Ghana in Accra.