International rating agency, Fitch, has projected that Ghana’s public debt may reach 99% of its Gross Domestic Debt at the end of 2023, from 88% in 2022.
According to Fitch, this will be due to the cedi’s persistent depreciation against the US dollar.
For 2024 and 2025, it said public debt would decline to 95% and 94% respectively.
The agency made these assumptions while considering Ghana’s debt restructuring and the current fiscal consolidations taking into account the state of the economy.
Ghana’s public debt as of June 2023 surged to GH¢575.5 billion representing 71.9 percent of the national Gross Domestic Debt.
The new increment is a marginal rise of GH¢6.3 billion as compared to the GH¢569.2 billion public debt recorded in April 2023.
The September 2023 Bank of Ghana Summary of Economic and Financial Data reveals that, the country’s public debt has increased by GH¢27.7 billion since January 2023.
According to the report, Ghana’s external debt accounted for GH¢328.6 billion (US$29.9 billion), while domestic debt accounted for GH¢246.9 billion ($30.8 billion).
The latest figures indicate that external debt shot up by GH¢7. 3 billion compared to April 2023 of GH¢321.3 billion, while, domestic debt declined from GH¢247.9 billion to GH¢246.9 billion for the same period.
Contrastingly, the Nominal GDP has held steady at GH¢800.9 billion as of June 2023, maintaining the same level as it was in January 2023. However, this represents a significant increase from the GH¢610.2 billion reported in June 2022.
Source: ghanaweb.com
