Ghana’s debt stock to reduce slightly by end 2017 - Dr Bawumia

18:13 - 18 July 2017

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The Nana Addo-led government has issued a total of 40 billion cedis bond in the first six months. However, Dr Bawumia said the debt stock was rather reducing due to restructuring.

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said that Ghana’s debt stock will by the end of 2017 reduce slightly despite the assertions that it is increasing due to the issue of bonds.

He said this during the first edition of the Media Encounter with President Akufo-Addo.

The Nana Addo-led government has issued a total of 40 billion cedis bond in the first six months.

However, Dr Bawumia said the debt stock was rather reducing due to restructuring.

“Last year the deficit was 9.4 percent of GDP that was where it ended. Thanks to the Asempa Budget it has gone back on a path of fiscal consolidation to bring back the deficit this year to 6.5 percent of GDP.”

“In the last 4 years, between 2012 and 2016, the debt stock went up from 45 percent of GDP to 72 percent of GDP, that means on average every year, the government was adding 6.75 percent to the debt stock. The GDP is not 80 billion but closer to 200 billion this year, and we are going to end the year after inheriting about 72 percent of GDP, we are hoping to bring it down slightly between 70 and 71 percent,” he added.

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He mentioned that it was important to restructure the country’s debt to provide the government with some fiscal space to undertake some other programmes and project.

“So we are looking at how we manage the finances to bring down the debt burden. So even if you are borrowing, the burden of that we are trying to bring down through the process of fiscal consolidation.”