Ghana’s Gross public debt since 2014 now stood at Ghc 173,068.7 million as contained in Annual Public Debt Report for the 2018 financial year summited to Parliament.
This consisted of external debt of 86,169.0 million and domestic debt of 86,899.7 million Cedis.
Moving the motion for the adoption of the report, the Chairman of the finance committee, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah said “sound management of the economy, macroeconomic stability, institutional reforms with irreversibility policies, Ghana achieved a rapid turnaround in its sovereign ratings after several years, with S&P upgrading Ghana’s rating to B/stabie, in line with Fitch’s rating of B/stable, whereas Moody’s affirmed its rating at BB3/stable outlook”.
According to him, “in 2018, Government continued to limit the level of commercial borrowing to US$500.00 million, in line with programme targets under the IMF Programme.
Further to Government’s commitment to restore fiscal integrity to public Financial management, Government enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 (Act 982) and inaugurated the Fuseal Responsibility Advisory and Fiscal Stability Advisory Councils”.
These developments, as suggested by the report “are to ensure fiscal responsibility, macroeconomic stability as well as debt sustainability in public finances.
They further demonstrate the commitment of the Government to preserving today’s economic gains from future actions of government”.
On the slower Rate of Public Debt Accumulation, The Committee was informed that on the back of the macroeconomic stability, the rate of public debt accumulation continued to plummet to a low of 14.5 percent (without the financial bailout) from a 2017 rate of 16.6 percent.
“In nominal terms, Ghana’s public debt stock as at end 2018 stood at GH¢86,169.00 million (US$17,868.50 million) and GH¢86,899.70 million (US$18,020.00 million) respectively. As a percentage of GDP, Debt-to-GDP with financial bailout stood at 57.9 percent and without the bailout was also at 54.7 percent as at the end of 2018”.
Story by Edzorna Francis Mensah
