Ghana’s public debt hits GH¢742bn– Finance Minister

The Minister responsible for Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has disclosed that government’s provisional total debt stood at GH¢742 billion (US$50.9 billion) as of June this year.

This amount represents 70.6 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The minister disclosed this on the floor of parliament on Tuesday July 23, 2024 while delivering the 2024 mid-year budget review.

“Mr. Speaker, as at end-December 2023, the provisional central government and guaranteed debt in nominal terms was GH¢608.4,4 billion This was made up of GH¢351.1billion and GH¢257.2billion for external and domestic debt respectively.

“Mr. Speaker, the provisional total central government debt as at end-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,” Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam said.

He further explained, “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.”