Gov’t Appetite For Debt Escalates -Goes for GHC 20 billion debt by March, Despite IMF warning.

Despite serious warnings that Ghana is tottering dangerously on the edge of debt unsustainability, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has hinted of government’s plans to borrow almost GH¢20billion through domestic bonds between January and March 2020.

According to a statement on January 8, 2010, outlining the calendar for the domestic debt issuance, the BoG stated: The Calendar shows the securities that are intended to be issued in respect of Government’s Public Sector Borrowing Requirements for the period January to March 2020.”

The bonds will be used to meet the government’s financing”, said the Central Bank.
 “Government plans to issue a gross amount of GH¢19,087.87 million, of which GH¢15,685.81 million is to rollover maturities and the remaining GH¢3,402.06 million is fresh to meet government’s financing,” the Bank of Ghana (BoG) stated in its government’s issuance calendar for January to March 2020, “ the statement issued by Sandra Thompson, BoG Secretary read.

Meanwhile, recent reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank indicates that the Akufo Addo administration’s unbridled appetite for racking up domestic debt has pushed Ghana dangerously towards the point where the country will be tagged internationally as a Highly Indebted developing country.

 
Ghana’s public debt sat at GH¢208.6 billion in at September 2019. This debt rate was equivalent to 60.3 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), data from the Bank of Ghana revealed.

The figure is just a few points short of the debt unsustainability level for Ghana. Critics believe that Ghana may be pushed to the brink this year, particularly it is an election year, when the government spends much more beyond its means to score political points against its opponents.