Ghana’s debt as at end of June 2024 hits GH¢742 billion; 70.6% of GDP – Finance Minister

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has said Ghana’s public debt stock has ballooned to GH¢742.0 billion.

The Minister disclosed this in Parliament on Tuesday, July 23, when he presented the 2024 Mid-Year Budget review.

In his presentation, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam said the GH¢742.0 billion debt is equivalent to 70.6 per cent of GDP.

He said the new public debt represents an increase of 22.0 per cent due to the effect of the Cedi depreciation and the continuous disbursements from creditors.

“Mr. Speaker, as at end-December 2023, the provisional central government and guaranteed debt in nominal terms was GH¢608.4,4 billion This was made up of GH¢351.1billion and GH¢257.2billion for external and domestic debt respectively.

“Mr. Speaker, the provisional total central government debt as at end-June 2024 stood at GH¢742.0 billion (US$50.9 billion), equivalent to 70.6 percent of GDP. This indicates an increase of 22.0 percent due to the effect of the Cedi depreciation and the continuous disbursements from creditors,” Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam said.

The Finance Minister in his presentation said the public debt stock consists of external debt of GH¢452.0 billion and domestic debt of GH¢290.0 billion.

He explained that this represents 60.9 per cent and 39.1 per cent of the total debt stock, respectively.

“As a percentage of GDP, external and domestic debt represented 43.0 per cent and 27.6 per cent, respectively,” Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam said.