Ghana’s debt stock reaches 208.6 billion cedis

Data released by the Bank of Ghana shows that between July and September 2019, Ghana's total debt stock increased by 3.1 billion cedis, hitting 208.6 billion cedis.

The figures contained in the Bank of Ghana's Summary of Economic and Financial Data also shows that the total debt stock of 208.6 billion cedis represents 60.3 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

Comparing the debt stock to the same period in November 2018, the data shows that the total debt at the time was at 170 billion cedis, representing 57.2 percent of the GDP.

The external component of the debt, which is mostly debt contracted outside the country stood at 20.1 billion dollars, while the domestic debt increased from 98.3 billion cedis in July this year, to 101.4 billion cedis in September.

In the banking sector, the total assets of banks grew to 121 billion cedis in October 2019 compared to 106 billion cedis in the same period in October 2018.

Also, the Non-Performing Loans of Banks, which is credit gone bad dropped to 17.3 percent in October 2019, from 17.9 percent in July 2019.

On external sector performance, Ghana's total export as at October 2019 was at 13 billion dollars.

Export of gold fetched the country 5.3 billion dollars, while oil brought in 3.8 billion dollars by October 2019. This was followed by cocoa earning the country 1.6 billion dollars.

On the import side, total imports of the country stood at 11.1 billion dollars by October 2019. Imports of oil stood at 1.8 billion dollars, while non-oil imports were at 9.3 billion dollars.