Ghana’s debt stock rises to GH¢43.5 billion in seven months – BoG data

The latest Summary of Macroeconomic and Financial Data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has revealed Ghana’s debt stock accumulation has risen to GH¢43.5 billion in seven months.

This comes after the total debt at the beginning of 2020 was pegged at GH¢219.6 billion.

According to figures from the BoG, the current accumulation brings Ghana’s total debt to GH¢263.1 billion as at the end of July 2020.

The central bank said the total amount of new debt accumulated in the first seven months of the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 stood at GH¢8.7 billion, GH¢11 billion, GH¢21.8 billion, and GH¢28.9 billion respectively.

Additionally, the BoG said the debt accumulation for the first seven months of 2020 represents an increase of 19.8 percent in the country’s debt stock from January to July.

This however likens to an increase of 16.4 percent in the country’s total debt stock in the same period in the year 2019.

Meanwhile, the significant increases on all fronts have pushed Ghana’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio to 68.3 percent, the highest level in more than a year.

Despite the debt stock increase, the central bank is estimating Ghana’s economy to grow between 2.0 and 2.5 percent in the third and fourth quarters of 2020.

Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, said that headline inflation, after edging up sharply to 11.4 percent in July 2020, has also started going down which is now at 10.5 percent in August 2020, on the back of declining food prices.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank has announced its decision by the to keep its policy rate unchanged at 14.5 percent for the third consecutive time.

The decision according to the Committee was based on the drivers of economic growth returning to normal prospects for a good recovery.