Ghana’s public debt reached GH¢610 billion ($52.4 billion) at the end of 2023, the Bank of Ghana has revealed in its March 2024 Summary of Economic and Financial Data.

It went up by GH¢42.7 billion between September 2023 and December 2023, after it fell by ¢14.2 billion between June 2023 and September 2023 to ¢567.3 billion ($51.0 billion).

The total public debt stock of the country is equivalent to 72.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This suggests that the country’s debt situation has not improved despite completing the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme during the period.

While the domestic debt went up by GH¢19.1 billion, the external debt increased by GH¢23.6 billion, largely as a result of the cedi depreciation.

The data from the Central Bank also revealed that the external component of the total public debt stood at $30.1 billion (¢350.3 billion) in December 2023. This represented 41.6% of GDP.

In terms of the domestic debt, it stood at ¢259.7 billion in December 2023, about 30.1% of GDP.

The report again failed to provide data for the financial sector resolution debt and other liabilities such as the energy sector debt.

Fiscal deficit to GDP stood at 3.3%

The report also revealed that the government’s fiscal operations was on target as the deficit-to-GDP stood at 3.3% in December 2023, as against 8.3% of GDP in December 2022.

The primary balance was however a surplus of 0.4% of GDP in December 2023.

Ghana suspended interest payments on loans to its external creditors in December 2022, following the economic challenges faced by the country.

The country is currently negotiating a deal with the bondholders after successfully negotiating a deal with the bilateral creditors in January 2024.