Ghana’s public debt stock has risen to GH¢ 208.6 billion.
The figure was recorded as at the end of September 2019, the Central Bank announced on Monday, November 25, 2019.
Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, who briefed the media, said the stock of public debt rose to 60.3 per cent of GDP (GH¢208.6 billion), at the end of September 2019 compared with 56.8 per cent of GDP (GH¢170.8 billion) at the end of September 2018.
Of the total debt stock, he revealed that domestic debt was GH¢101.4 billion, of which GH¢11.2 billion (3.8 per cent of GDP) represented bonds issued to support the financial sector clean-up, while external debt was GH¢107.2 billion, with a share of 51.4 per cent in the total public debt.
Budget
He said provisional data on the execution of the budget from January to September 2019 indicated that total revenue and grants amounted to GH¢36.3 billion (10.5 per cent of GDP) compared with the projected target of GH¢42.0 billion (12.1 per cent of GDP).
Revenue Shortfalls
The revenue shortfalls, he added, were from both tax and non-tax sources.
According to him, total expenditures, including arrears clearance was GH¢51.0 billion (14.8 per cent of GDP), below the target of GH¢56.1 billion (16.0 per cent of GDP).
“These developments resulted in an overall fiscal deficit (on a cash basis) of 4.5 per cent of GDP against the target of 4.1 per cent of GDP for the period,” he said.
“The primary balance also recorded a deficit of 0.3 per cent of GDP against a programmed surplus of 0.1 per cent of GDP”, he noted.
The deficit was financed from both domestic and external sources, according to him.
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