Every Ghanaian Owes GHC 7, 200 At Public Debt Tops GHC 215 billion

Data released by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on Thursday, January 30, 2020, shows that every of the estimated 30 million Ghanaians owe a whopping GHC 7,200 from the public debt racked up per capita by the government.
Public debt has risen to GH¢214.9 billion as at the end of November 2019 according to the central bank. This is equivalent to a staggering US$ 39 billion
Out of the debt overhang on the country, GH¢111.9 billion constitutes external debt, equivalent to about US$ 20.3 billion, representing about 32.4 per cent of GDP, while approximately GHC 102.9 billion comprises domestic debt.

Of this total debt portfolio, the current Akufo Addo led administration has added a whopping GHC 102 billion within the spate of three years because as of September 2016, the total public debt was pegged at GHC 112 billion.
The current administration took over that debt portfolio from the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration in January 2017.
According to the BoG, the rampaging increase in Ghana’s public debt is chiefly due to the unbridled depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi.
This has exposed the lip-service of the ruling NPP which vowed to “arrest the cedi” when they assumed power.
The latest debt figure follows the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting during the week to review the health of the economy in order to take a decision that is likely to influence the cost of credit in the country.

The latest debt stock puts Ghana dangerously close to a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) as was recently alerted by the Bretton Woods Institutions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As at June 2019, Ghana’s public debt was hovering around GH¢205 billion or a debt-to-GDP Ratio 62.1 per cent, leading the Bretton Woods institutions to estimate that the figure may stray into HIPC levels by 2020-particularly due to characteristic election-year spending.