Adnan Adams Mohammed
Ghana’s domestic debt ballooned from GH¢181.9 billion in January to GH¢189.9 billion in March, which represents about 38% of the projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2022.
This shows an increase in domestic debt by an amount of GH¢8 billion in two months.
The domestic debt is a component of the total debt stock which stood at GH¢391.9 billion (equivalent of US$ 55.1 billion) as of March 2022, data from the Bank of Ghana indicate.
However, the external component of the debt, increased significantly by about GH¢32 billion in the first 3 months of 2022, from GH¢169.8 billion in January to GH¢201.9 billion in March.
Even though dropped by $3 billion in the first quarter of 2022 from $58.4 billion in January to $55.1 billion in March, it increased in cedi terms due to
The depreciation of the currency resulted in increment of the total debt of about GH¢40 billion. Even though the debt value dropped by US$3 billion in the first quarter of 2022 from US$58.4 billion in January to US$55.1 billion in March.
The total debt stock was GH¢351.7 billion in January 2022.
The increase in the debt stock in cedis increases Ghana’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio to 78%.
Year-on-year, from March 2021 to March 2022, the debt stock rose by about 30% from GH¢304.6 billion to GH¢391.9 billion.