Government's total debt hits GH¢742 billion in June 2024; equivalent to 70.6% of GDP

Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has disclosed that the the provisional total central government debt as at the end of June 2024 stood at GH¢742.0 billion (US$50.9 billion), equivalent to 70.6 percent of GDP.

This indicates an increase of 22.0 percent due to the effect of the Cedi depreciation and the continuous disbursements from creditors.

“The stock consists of external debt of GH¢452.0 billion and domestic debt of GH¢290.0 billion, representing 60.9 percent and 39.1 percent of the total debt stock, respectively. As a percentage of GDP, external and domestic debt represented 43.0 percent and 27.6 percent, respectively,” he added.

According to the Bank of Ghana in its May 2024 Summary of Economic and Financial Data, the country’s public debt has seen a significant increase of GH¢47.4 billion within the first two months of 2024, reaching a total of GH¢658.6 billion.

This accounts for 62.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by February 2024. The external debt stands at GH¢380 billion, which is equivalent to 36.1% of the GDP.