Ghana's public debt stock increased by 40.1 billion to 391.9 billion at the end of March 2022, according to the Bank of Ghana's Summary of Economic and Financial Data.
The growth in debt is mostly attributable to exchange rate fluctuations and, to a lesser extent, domestic borrowing. The cedi began a fast decline against the dollar in the first quarter of 2022, although depreciation was halted in April 2022 as a result of monetary measures taken by the Bank of Ghana.
The debt, however, was projected to be 78 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product. This is a minor decrease from the 80% observed in December 2021.
The debt increased by $20.5 billion in January 2022 and then by $19.7 billion in February 2022, according to the data.
Domestic debt increased by $8 billion in the first quarter of 2022, reaching 189.9 billion in March 2021. This is the equivalent to 37.8% of GDP.
In March 2022, the foreign component of the total public debt increased to $28.4 billion (US$201.9 billion), up from $28.1 billion in December 2021. The numbers plainly show that there were no foreign borrowings in the first quarter of this year.
However, the external debt-to-GDP ratio is roughly 40.2 percent of GDP.
The cedi component increased by 31.9 billion in the first three months of 2022, owing to the depreciation of the cedi against the dollar.
The financial industry resolution bond, on the other hand, fell to $14.6 billion in March 2022 from $14.9 billion in December 2021. This corresponds to 2.9 percent of GDP.
Ghana's debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to reach 84.6 percent in 2022, according to the IMF.
In its April 2022 Fiscal Monitor, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted that Ghana's debt to GDP ratio will be 84.6 percent in 2022.
The country's overall debt was anticipated by the Fund to be 81.8 percent of GDP in 2021, higher than the Bank of Ghana's projection of 80.1 percent, or around 351.8 billion dollars.
The country's debt-to-GDP ratio would rise from 2022 to 88.4% in 2026, before decreasing to 87.4% in 2027, according to the IMF.
However, in 2022 and 2023, it will have a debt-to-GDP ratio of 84 percent, before increasing to 85 percent and 86 percent in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
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