Recent data released by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) revealed that the country’s public debt stock reached GH¢658.6 billion ($53.1 billion) as of February 2024.
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This represents an increase of GH¢46.4 billion in just the first two months of the year.
Ghana’s total public debt now stands at 62.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the period. The BoG’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data for May 2024 indicated that the debt was GH¢611.2 billion at the end of 2023.
It rose to GH¢626.0 billion in January 2024 and further increased to GH¢658.6 billion by February 2024.
This rise in public debt was mainly attributed to the persistent depreciation of the cedi and increased government borrowing on the domestic treasury bills market.
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Domestic debt saw an increase of GH¢18.5 billion in the first two months of 2024, reaching GH¢278.7 billion, which is approximately 36.1 percent of GDP.
The external debt component rose by GH¢28.9 billion, largely due to the cedi’s depreciation against major trading currencies. The external debt stood at $30.6 billion (GH¢350.3 billion) in February 2024, also equivalent to 36.1 percent of GDP.
Despite the rising debt, the BoG’s data showed that government fiscal operations were on track, with a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 2.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 1.8 percent during the same period in 2023. The primary balance recorded a deficit of 1.4 percent of GDP in March 2024.
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