Ghana’s debt GHC204bn as at June 2019 – Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has revealed that Ghana’s debt has ballooned to GHS204billion.

This confirms the prediction of the Minority in Parliament, who had earlier cautioned about the skyrocketing figures of Ghana's debt, a situation they described as worrying.

The total public debt was GHS198 billion, as of March 2019, representing 57.5 per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of March 2019 according to the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data – May 2019.

Presenting the 2019 Mid-year budget review in Parliament on Monday, 29 July 2019, Mr Ofori-Atta stated that: “The gross public debt stock in nominal terms stood at GHS204 billion (US$38.7 billion) as at end-June 2019, representing 59.2 per cent of GDP”.

He attributed the increased to frontloading the financing requirements for 2019 in the first quarter.

He added that: “Debt accumulation in the subsequent quarters is expected to ease downwards and stabilise”.

The share of the external debt stock increased from 50.2 per cent at end-December 2018 to 52.8 per cent at the end of June 2019, mainly driven by the issuance of Eurobonds of US$3.0 billion in March.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also disbursed an amount of US$184.30 million in March 2019 after their seventh and eight reviews of the Extended Credit Facility Programme.

“On account of these two major inflows, a net amount of US$2.9 billion, equivalent to approximately GHS14.8 billion, was added to the debt stock,” Mr Ofori-Atta stated.