Ghana’s total public debt stock, according to data from the Bank of Ghana currently stands at GH¢154 billion.
With an estimated population of about 28 million people in Ghana, a division by the aforementioned public debt means that every Ghanaian including new born babies owe GH¢5,500.
A summary of Bank of Ghana’s Economic and Financial data has revealed that just within three months (between February and May 2018 alone), GH¢9 billion was added to Ghana’s debt stock.
As at May 2018, the debt stock of the country was GHC 154 billion compared to GH¢145 billion in February.
Just last year, the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) projected that Ghana’s public debt could hit a record level of GH¢150 billion before the end of 2018.
The Executive Director of IFS, Professor Newman Kusi said, the government’s indication to issue bonds and other project financing mechanisms would increase the debt ratio to an uncontrolled state.
He said, ” The whole public debt was GH¢138.6 billion, that is even as at September if you add the ESLA bond and you add the bond that we issued in November, and then you add the GH¢10 billion that government now plans to borrow, it would take us somewhere more than Gh¢150 billion”.
Professor Kusi also explained why the end of year debt for 2017 is around GH¢146.2 billion, a situation he thinks was unnecessary because some of the projects were unprofitable. He spoke on the sideline of a roundtable discussion on the implications of the country’s debt on the economy.
Although the country’s debt stands at GHC 154 billion, in terms of debt to GDP ratios compared to last year, there has been quite an improvement.
By Prince Schroeder (Intern)
