{"id":2306,"date":"2019-01-28T12:38:28","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T12:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/?p=2306"},"modified":"2019-01-28T12:38:34","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T12:38:34","slug":"ghanas-public-debt-now-172-9-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/28\/ghanas-public-debt-now-172-9-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana’s public debt now $172.9 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) shows that the public debt stock \nrose from GH\u00a2139.3 billion in November 2017 to GH\u00a2172.9 billion in \nNovember last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This represents a 24.1 per cent growth within the 12-month period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In nominal terms, it shows that the country added GH\u00a233.6 billion to the debt stock within the period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the \nvalue of total goods and services produced in a year \u2014 the November 2018\n debt stock is equivalent to 57.9 per cent of GDP while that of 2017 was\n 54.3 per cent of GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new ratios are based on the rebased GDP figures, which saw the economy expand by 24.7 per cent in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BoG released the data on January 26 after the conclusion of the first\n 2019 Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting a day earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Governor of the central bank, Dr Ernest Addison, is now due to \nbrief journalists today on the decision the committee has taken with \nregards to its benchmark rate, the policy rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Composition of debt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data showed that the growth in the debt within the period was fueled more by the domestic component.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the domestic debt grew from GH\u00a264.2 billion in November 2017 to\n GH\u00a286.5 billion in November 2018 (representing 34.7 per cent), the \nexternal debt rose by 14.3 per cent within the same period. It rose from\n GH\u00a275.1 billion in November 2017 to GH\u00a286.3 billion in November last \nyear, according to the data.<\/ins><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tight corner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An economist and Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies \n(IFS), Dr Said Boakye, said in an interview that the debt situation \nshowed that the country was still in a tight corner, as \u201cthe borrowing \nis very fast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the rebased GDP had succeeded in hiding the growth of the \ndebt-to-GDP ratio, thereby creating a wrong impression that it was \nfalling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a rough estimate, the economist said the current debt stock \nwould have been equivalent to 72.4 per cent of GDP under the old series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not coming down at all because the borrowing is very fast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expansionary budget<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Boakye said it was worrying that the debt numbers were showing a \nbleak future, especially given that it was only in the two years of the \ngovernment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year, 2019, it may even go up because the budget is a little bit more expansionary than the previous one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November last year, the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, \nunveiled an ambitious budget in which the government aims to spend \nGH\u00a215.62 billion more and register a budget deficit of 4.2 per cent of \nGDP this year. The budget also targets an end-year growth rate of 7.6 \nper cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The planned jump in expenditures for 2019 came on the back of fiscal \nconsolidations in 2017 and 2018, in which total expenditures grew by \nGH\u00a25.78 billion and GH\u00a25.88 billion respectively, according to analyses \nof the two budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With revenues projected to turn in less than anticipated, Dr Boakye \nfeared that it will be \u201cthe same story of borrowing to spend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only thing, perhaps, that this government has done is they go by\n what theyprogramme to spend,\u201d he said, blaming the increased borrowings\n on rigidities in the midst of many projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Way out<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked how the country could navigate the situation, Dr Boakye said \nthe government must be ready to tell the populace the reality facing the\n nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, he said, required that the government reined in its \nexpenditures by staggering the implementation of its commitments to the \npopulace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Research Fellow at IFS had earlier advised against the complete rollout of the government\u2019s free senior high school (SHS) programme and other cost-driven programmes, which he said risk strangulating the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

credit: graphic.com.gh<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) shows that the public debt stock rose from GH\u00a2139.3 billion in November 2017 to GH\u00a2172.9 billion in November […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[55],"class_list":["post-2306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bog"],"yoast_head":"\nGhana's public debt now $172.9 billion - Apt News Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr Ernest Addison, briefed journalists on the decision the committee has taken with regards to its benchmark rate, the policy rate...ghana's public debt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/28\/ghanas-public-debt-now-172-9-billion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ghana's public debt now $172.9 billion - 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