Ghana’s public debt has reached GHc129.5 billion according to Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data issued Friday, May 19, 2017.
Per the data, out of the GHc129.5 billion which represents 63.7 percent of GDP, external debt accounts for GHc74.5 billion, while debt incurred internally stands at GHc55 billion.
This means that Ghana's debt has risen by over GHc7 billion since the five-month-old government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took office.
Though the current 63.7 percent debt to GDP ratio is relatively better compared to the 73 percent recorded in December 2016, the addition of over GHc7 billion in less than half of a year does not seem to be in line with President Akufo-Addo's promise of reducing fiscal deficit this year.
It will be recalled that President Akufo-Addo while lamenting the dire economic situation he and his government had inherited during his maiden State of the Nation Address on February 21 2017 revealed that the country’s debt stock had ballooned fromGHc9.5billion in 2009 to GHc122billion at the end of 2016
He, however, promised that, “I will not allow this country to collapse under my watch. We will reduce significantly the fiscal deficit this year".